Hoyle Card Games Help Welcome to Hoyle® Card Games Help. Click on a topic below for help with Hoyle Card Games.

Getting Started Overview of Hoyle Card Games Signing In Making a Face in FaceCreator Starting a Game Hoyle Bucks Playing Games Bridge Pitch Canasta Poker Crazy Eights Rummy 500 Cribbage Skat Euchre Solitaire Gin Rummy Space Race Go Fish Spades Hearts Spite & Malice Memory Match Tarot Old Maid Tuxedo Pinochle War Game Options Customizing Hoyle Card Games Changing Player Settings Hoyle Characters Playing Games in Full Screen Mode Setting Game Rules and Options Special Features Managing Games Saving and Restoring Games Quitting a Game

Additional Information One Thousand Years of Playing Cards Contact Information References Overview of Hoyle Card Games Hoyle Card Games includes 20 different types of games, from classics like Bridge, Hearts, and Gin Rummy to family games like Crazy Eights and Old Maid--and 50 different Solitaire games! Many of the games can be played with Hoyle characters, and some games can be played with several people in front of your computer.

Game Descriptions:

Bridge Pitch The classic bidding and trick-taking game. Includes A quick and easy trick taking game; can you w in High, Low , rubber bridge and four-deal bridge. Jack, and Game? Canasta Poker A four-player partner game of making melds and Five Card Draw is the game here. Try to get as large a canastas and fighting over the discard pile. bankroll as you can. Hoyle players are cagey bluffers. Crazy Eights Rummy 500 Follow the color or play an eight. Try the Very Crazy Play sets and sequences to the board and make clever version for a w ild time. use of the discard pile to outscore your opponent. Cribbage Skat The popular tw o-player game, complete w ith board and A three-handed trick taking game popular in Germany, pegs and the Muggins option. w ith a variety of contracts and sophisticated bidding. Euchre Solitaire An aggressive trick-taking game w here you try not to getFifty different variations, including single deck, double deck, "euchred." and fast-paced arcade games. Gin Rummy Space Race Draw ing and discarding are w hat this game is all about. A cutthroat race to be the first team to cross an interstellar Can you "knock" before the other player? finish-line. Go Fish Spades A simple classic. Ask other players for cards, and The fun partnership game w here you need to take the remember w hat they ask for. Enjoy the fishing! tricks you bid, and not too many more! Hearts Spite & Malice A competitive game w here the object is not to catch Competitive solitaire, not for the faint-of-heart. Deal and hearts or the dangerous Queen of Spades. steal in this vicious game of one upmanship. Memory Match Tarot Try to remember w hat's under all the cards. Lots of A trick-taking game popular in France, w ith varying variations for one or tw o players. partnerships and 21 special trump cards. Old Maid Tuxedo Pair up all the animals in the farm, and don't get caught Tuxedo is a tw o-to-four player strategy game, w ith either w ith the pesky troll. quick-play or tournament styles. Pinochle War An intensive trick-taking game. Play one of four different This childhood favorite requires luck and patience and a versions, including partnership and double-deck. fondness for tanks. Signing In When you start Hoyle Card Games, you must first sign in, choosing a name and a picture to represent yourself. You must create at least one player to play the games, and you can create additional players for yourself, your friends, and your family members. One reason for creating multiple players is that some games allow more than one player on the same computer. Another reason is that your high scores and other statistics are tracked based on your player name. The first time you sign in, you are asked to create a new player. After that, you can sign in as an existing player. You can create new players at any time, and you can change your character's face at any time.

To create a new player: 1 Click the New button. 2 Type a name for the new player, and click OK. 3 To create your own unique face, click the FaceCreator button. Click here to learn more about using FaceCreator: OR Select FaceCreator to show FaceCreator pictures (ones you have made and a selection of premade faces), or select Non-talking to show non-talking pictures provided for you. Then, select the face you want to use by moving the horizontal scroll bar. 4 Click OK to create the new player.

To sign in a player created during a previous session: 1 Click the player's name in the list. If necessary, scroll through the list using the vertical scroll bar. To change the face for this player, see step 3, above. 2 Click OK to start playing games as this player.

Notes: You can remove a player from the list of players by selecting the player name and clicking the Delete button. The player and all of their statistics are removed permanently. You can sign in as a different player after you've started Hoyle Card Games. You might do this if someone else wants to play games and you don't want to exit. From the Main Screen, click Sign In on the File menu to sign in as a different player. If you are in a game, click Main Screen on the Go To menu to get to the Main Screen.

See Also Changing Player Settings Making a Face in FaceCreator Starting a Game You can start a game from the Main Screen or from the Go To menu.

To start a game: From the Main Screen, click the game you want to play, or click the name of the game on the Go To menu. From within a game, click the name of the game on the Go To menu. To get to the Main Screen from within a game, click Main Screen on the Go To menu.

To switch from one game to another: Click the Go To menu, and then click the name of the game you want to switch to. If you're in the middle of a game, you are asked if you are sure you want to exit the current game. Note: You can save a game and come back to play it later by using the Save and Restore commands on the File menu.

See Also Signing In Customizing the Game Environment Setting Game Rules and Options Special Features Customizing Hoyle Card Games You can change many different types of settings in Hoyle Card Games: the cards used in the games, the background picture displayed in the games, and other environment settings like speed of play, background music, animations, and character speech. All of these settings are changed using options on the Options menu. These settings can be changed from anywhere in Hoyle Card Games and affect all the games.

To change the background: 1 Click Background on the Options menu. 2 Click a background style in the list. A preview of the background appears. 3 Click Apply to see the background in the current game. Click OK to accept the background change.

To change the card design: 1 Click Cards on the Options menu. 2 Click a card back style in the list. A preview of the card back appears. 3 Click the type of card face. A preview of the card face appears. To play with larger cards that are easier to see, choose Regular, Large or Designer. 4 Click Apply to see the card design in the current game. Click OK to accept the card design change.

To change the game environment (sounds, animations, character settings, and more): Click Environment on the Options menu and change settings as described below.

Setting Description Character Speech Sets whether Hoyle characters talk while you play. Animations Sets whether certain game animations are on or off. This setting does not affect all games, and only affects animations that a slower computer might have trouble playing. Background Music Sets whether you hear background music while you play the games. Specify which music you want to hear by selecting it in the Background Music list. Adjust the volume of the music using the volume slider. Sound Effects Sets whether you hear sound effects during games, such as dealing cards. Show Intro Movie Plays the introductory movie whenever you start Hoyle Card Games. Game Speed Sets the overall speed of all the games. You might want to slow down the games if they don't perform well on your computer. Move the Game Speed slider to the left (Slow) or right (Fast) to adjust the speed. Character Attitude Sets how talkative and animated Hoyle characters are during the game. Move the Character Attitude slider to the left towards Serious for less attitude or to the right towards Talkative for more attitude. Note: The attitude is set for all Hoyle characters in the game. You cannot set each player's attitude individually.

See Also Setting Game Rules and Options Special Features Playing Games in Full Screen Mode You can make Hoyle Card Games fill your entire computer screen so that the games are easier to see.

To play in full screen mode: Click Full Screen on the Options menu. The program resizes to fill the screen.

To return to a windowed mode: Click Window on the Options menu. The program fits in a window again.

Notes: Maximizing the game window will not make the screen bigger; you must go to full screen mode. This may not work on all computers. If you open the in-game help while in full screen mode, the full screen mode is turned off. You can press ALT+ENTER to quickly switch between viewing the program in full screen or in a window. Changing Player Settings When you sign in to Hoyle Card Games, you are the "host." Up to three other people can play games with you on your computer; this is called "head-to-head" play. The following games in Hoyle Card Games allow head-to-head play: Memory Match, Crazy Eights, Cribbage, War, and the Bowling variation of Solitaire.

In addition, you can play against the Hoyle characters. To learn more about the Hoyle characters, click here: When you start a game, all of the actively signed-in people are seated in the game, if possible, along with one or more Hoyle characters to fill any empty seats. You can add or remove players in a game only before you start playing a game. However, you can substitute one computer player for another at any time, and you can change your player picture at any time.

To change player settings: 1 Within a game, click the Players menu item on the Options menu. 2 Change player settings as described below. Some settings can only be changed before a game starts. To replace a player, click the Replace button next to that player. To replace a player with someone who will play with you on your computer, select Real Person; otherwise, select a computer player. You can't change the host of a game within a game; to change the host, you must go to the Main Screen and use the Sign In command on the File menu. Tip: You can quickly replace players within a game by clicking on the player's picture in the game, and then selecting a new player on the pop-up menu that appears. To remove a player, click the Clear button next to that player. In games that require a certain number of players, you won't be able to clear players if you won't have enough players to play. To add another player to a game, click the Add button in an empty position in the Players dialog box. To add someone who will play with you on your computer, select Real Person; otherwise, select a computer player. To see a description of a computer player, click the Bio button next to that player. To change the face of a human player, click the Face button next to that player. Other settings for players in a game, such as player color, are shown underneath each player.

Note: When you start a game that includes Hoyle characters, random players are chosen for you. If you want to play with a certain player, you can set that players to be "preferred" so he or she plays with you in every game. To do this, check the Preferred Player box under that player. You can set a few players as preferred, or set all but one or two players as preferred (if there are players you don't ever want to play games with).

See Also Customizing the Game Environment Hoyle Characters Special Features Hoyle Characters Hoyle Card Games offers an array of characters for you to play games with. To learn how to change the Hoyle characters playing in a particular game, click here:

To learn how to interact with the Hoyle characters using the BackTalk feature, click here:

Captain Scurvy is a parrot pirate who has spent many years conquering all available seas. His favorite activities are pillaging, ordering his crew around, and reading cryptic maps. On long sailings across the Pacific Ocean, he plays a variety of games with his crew, some involving large wagers. He is noisy, friendly, and quick to offer advice. It is rumored that Scurvy had a life before the sea, but Captain Scurvy he doesn't talk about it much.

Chloe lives in Rochester, Minnesota, where she works as a personal trainer. She knows how to motivate people, but don't let that supportive personality fool you—she has quite a competitive streak. Chloe knows that hard work pays off at the gym and at the game table, so she spends those long Minnesota winters perfecting her strategies. Chloe

Elayne is a native Manhattanite who doesn't see why she should ever leave. This fast-track advertising exec unwinds from a hectic day on Madison Avenue with some of the most popular games of all time.

Elayne

Harley is a talking bear who likes food and rolling in the grass naked. He dislikes forest fires, tourists, and hikers who think they can run away. He learned to play games by watching the park rangers play games in their cabin on breaks (when he wasn't sneaking food out of their fridge). Underneath the growly exterior, he's a pussycat (unless you are eating and don't offer to share). Harley

Hedda hails from Stuttgart, Germany, where she was the city's undisputed game champion for 15 consecutive years. After conquering countless opponents in Europe, she moved on to the United States and proceeded to learn every popular board and card game in the country. Hedda is not for the faint-hearted—she may try to rattle you with her comments. Hedda

Jack made his living as a travel writer, and recently retired to the New England coast. He's a bachelor, but is still looking for "Ms. Right;" in the meantime, he works on his sailboat, collects antiques, and vacations all over the world. Jack has some great stories to tell and a wonderful sense of humor, but don't let him distract you from your game. Jack Since Jasper left Jamaica years ago, he has traveled the world as a jazz bass player. All that time on the road has made him a world class gamer. Jasper points out, "A good game is like a song that starts slowly and builds to a strategic crescendo."

Jasper

For a fierce T-Rex, Marvin is quite likeable. Although self-conscious about his tiny arms and bitter about the Ice Age, Marvin hasn't eaten an opponent yet. Marvin spends his time bird watching, playing games, and avoiding extinction.

Marvin

Rhett is a dyed-in-the-wool Hoyle gamer from Texas—stay sharp or he'll beat you every time. His wild theories and strong opinions will have your head spinning, but he's always entertaining. As long as you stick to the rules, Rhett will be a regular at your game table.

Rhett

Roswell is the sole survivor of the famous "crash" in Roswell, New Mexico, 1947. In an extensive effort to keep this UFO incident hidden from the public, the government employed Roswell for years as a janitor at Area 51. Eventually granted a reasonable retirement package, Roswell now keeps his oversized brain (and his unchecked sarcasm) exercised by playing games. Roswell

Tasha has so much energy, it hardly seems possible that she can sit still for a game—but she loves to play. She works as a hostess at a Cajun restaurant, where things are always hopping. Talkative, funny, and a bit unpredictable, Tasha will spice up any game.

Tasha

Tony is a fireman—he loves his work and is a true hero. He may seem like the strong, silent type, but invite him to your next game and he'll loosen right up. Tony honed his card and board game skills during midnight shifts at the firehouse. He's married and has twin baby girls, but even sleep deprivation won't stop him from playing to win. Tony

See Also Changing Player Settings Customizing the Game Environment

Setting Game Rules and Options You can set game settings for each game, such as rules for the game, how the game is set up, and how the game is played. You can change all the settings for a game before the game begins. Once the game has begun, changing settings may require you to restart the game.

To set game rules and options: 1 While in the game, click the Settings menu item on the Options menu. (In Spades, for example, you would click Spades Settings on the Options menu.) 2 Make the changes you want. 3 Click OK to change the settings.

See Also Customizing the Game Environment Changing Player Settings Special Features Saving and Restoring Games You can save a game you are currently playing so you can play it later. The next time you start the game, you can open your saved game using the Restore command. You will then be back in the game at the same point you left it, with the same players and game settings.

To save a game: 1 Click Save on the File menu. 2 Type a name for the saved game. This can be a descriptive name such as "Second game with Roswell." (You will see a picture of the game when you restore it, to help you identify it.)

To restore a game: 1 Click Restore on the File menu, and then select the game you want to restore. You can see a picture of each game and the date and time it was saved by selecting the name of the saved game. 2 Click OK to restore the selected game. It will replace any game you are currently playing (you are asked if you want to replace it.) Important! When you try to restore games, you only see games if you saved them with the player name you are currently signed in with. For example, if you are signed in as Madeline, you won't see any games that were saved by Emmy.

Note: Some games can only be restored when it is a human player's turn.

See Also Setting Game Rules and Options Customizing the Game Environment Changing Player Settings Quitting a Game You can quit a particular game or exit Hoyle Card Games altogether. If you want to resume playing a game later, save the game before quitting.

To save the current game before quitting: Click Save on the File menu.

To exit a game: Click Main Screen on the Go To menu. You will return to the Main Screen where you can choose a different game to play. Or click a game name on the Go To menu to go directly to that game.

To quit the program: Choose Exit on the File menu.

See Also Saving and Restoring Games Special Features

Hoyle Bucks The gamer's equivalent to frequent flier miles; the more you play, the more you'll earn! See the Hoyle Bucks section for full details on the Hoyle Bucks feature.

BackTalk In previous versions of the Hoyle products, your character would sit quietly while the Hoyle characters did all the talking. Now, you can get in on the conversation! Each character plaque, including yours, has two face buttons on it.

Hoyle Character Buttons Player Character Buttons If you click on a Hoyle character's happy-faced heart button, you will say something kind to them. If you click on their horn-headed devilish button, you will do a little trash talking, or perhaps play a slapstick prank on them. The Hoyle characters will respond to your comments or actions. As for yourself, if you are feeling good or feeling bad, you can say so by clicking the appropriate icon on your plaque. The Hoyle characters may have something to say about the way you feel, too.

Notes and Tips: You can also use your keyboard to talk with your character. 1 and 2 are shortcuts for your character's buttons. 3 and 4 are shortcuts for the Hoyle character to your left, and so on going clockwise around the table. If you use a face saved from a Hoyle product without BackTalk, or if you use one of the non-talking characters to represent yourself, you will not be able to use the BackTalk feature. See the FaceCreator section for help on choosing your face, and a voice to go along with it!

Tutorials Sometimes, you just don't want to learn how to play a game by reading a manual or jumping in without knowing what you're doing. Instead, let one of the Hoyle Characters walk you through it! Five of our most popular games now come with built-in tutorials: Bridge, Hearts, Spades, Gin Rummy, and Canasta.

To start a tutorial: 1 Select Tutorial from the Go To menu. 2 Click the game you wish to learn. 3 The tutorial will begin automatically. Alternately, choose to play the game you wish to learn by selecting it on the main screen, or by choosing it from the Go To menu. On the Getting Started dialog that appears, click Tutorial. The tutorial will start automatically.

Tutorial Controls: The tutorial controls are similar to those on a CD player or DVD player.

Back up a step. If you want to go back and hear what your tutor just said over again, or see the last play over again, click this button. Clicking it multiple times in a row will back the tutorial up several steps.

Pause the tutorial. If you want to stop the tutorial for a moment, just click this button. To start it again, click the Advance button, and the tutorial will resume from the start of the step it was on when you clicked pause.

Advance the tutorial one step. Sometimes the tutorial will pause, either because you have a move to make, information to digest, or the tutor has asked you a question to think about. Advance the tutorial by clicking this button, or by making the move you have been directed to make.

Exit the tutorial. At any time, if you wish to exit the tutorial, click the Exit button. You can also click on the name of a tutorial section to the left of the controls to skip to that section. As the tutorial progresses, the current section button will gradually turn blue to show you roughly how many steps are left in the section.

Replay Mode After a hand of cards, have you ever thought, "What if I had played that hand differently?" In the trick-taking games in Hoyle Card Games, you can answer that question. In addition to being able to review the tricks of a completed hand, you can also replay the hand starting from any trick. To use this feature, select Review Tricks in the score box after a hand. Then, use the arrows on the trick indicator to cycle through the tricks. When you are on the trick you would like to replay from, click Replay. After replaying the hand, you will see the replay score for reference, but it won't change the actual game score or player statistics, it is for practice only. This feature is available in all of the trick-taking games in Hoyle Card Games: Bridge, Euchre, Hearts, Pinochle, Pitch, Skat, Spades, and Tarot.

Viewing Statistics You can display statistics, including information on wins, losses, and points as they apply to each game. You must finish at least one game to see statistics for that game.

To view statistics: 1 Click Statistics on the File menu. 2 Click the name of the player you want statistics for. 3 Select the name of the game you want statistics for. To clear statistics for the current player and game, click the Clear button. Statistics are permanently cleared for that game for that player.

See Also Setting Game Rules and Options Changing Player Settings Saving and Restoring Games One Thousand Years of Playing Cards "I am sorry I have not learned to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness and consolidates society." — Dr. Samuel Johnson The history of playing cards begins with sticks. Imagine, for a moment, that you've gone thousands of years back in time. Not one brick of the pyramids has been laid. Metalworking doesn't exist. Electricity is something that happens only in lightning. The world is a scary place, and you don't understand much about it beyond hunting and gathering. It's in this world that shamans (those members of your tribe whose job it is to interpret all the scary stuff) try to influence events and foretell the future. To do this, they throw sticks against a cave wall painted with special symbols, or drop them into a ring drawn on the ground, and then try to make sense of the patterns the sticks make. In time, symbols will be added to the sticks, representing animals, plants, gods, people, and the four compass headings. The sticks will evolve into ceremonial arrows. Cultures around the globe employ the stick method to give themselves an advantage in the fight for survival. And all around the globe, people like you are borrowing those sticks to play games with. There's a simple, practical purpose for almost every other object in your life (knives, spears, clubs, etc.). You use these objects every day, and they hold no mysteries for you. The shaman sticks are different; the symbols, feathers, and other decorations appeal to your imagination. Eventually special sticks were made just for gaming. As the stick games became more complicated, players recognized the need for a medium more convenient to work with than sticks. But what? And who took this first step?

The Chinese Have a Better Idea The what was paper, and the who was most likely the Chinese. Both printing and the use of paper money were invented in China in the years 600 to 900. People began playing with the money (as well as spending it) almost immediately, probably because they were already familiar with the idea of a game played with symbols on sticks or some other instrument. (For several centuries Chinese paper money and Chinese playing cards looked almost exactly alike. What effect this had on the Chinese economy is beyond the scope of this book...) This brings us to the most important evidence we have for the Chinese invention of playing cards—the first recorded mention of cards in world literature, dated 969 and written in one of the Chinese dialects. If we accept 969 as the birthdate of playing cards, then cards are well into their 11th century. Chinese cards were long and narrow, as were cards in Korea and Japan. In Korea, cards bore on their backs the picture of their ancestor, a feathered arrow (and, remarkably, still do today). Korean suit symbols eventually included man, fish, crow, pheasant, antelope, star, rabbit, and horse. The Japanese developed a dozen suit symbols, although each suit only had three cards. All three of these cultures produced a card common around the world: the wild card, or what English-speaking nations call the joker.

India's Claim on Cards India can also claim it invented playing cards, though the evidence here isn't as strong as it is for China. No one has found a mention of playing cards in Indian literature that predates 969. There's no smoking gun. However, it's possible someone in India invented cards without bothering to write about it. The evidence to back the Indian invention theory comes from Chess, of all things. India invented Chess, or rather the ancestor of Chess. Chess then migrated westward to Persia and eastward to China. Cards may have followed the same progression. Indian cards were long and narrow, like those elsewhere in Asia, but some kinds of Indian cards were circular and may have been used on chessboards. If the circular Indian cards came first, then perhaps the Chinese converted them into true playing cards after seeing them in action on Indian chessboards. The consensus today leans toward China as the birthplace of playing cards, but the case for India isn't weak. More on this later.

Playing Cards Invade Europe A monk living in the part of medieval Europe that would one day become Germany marked the arrival of playing cards in his corner of the world: "Hence it is that a certain game, called the game of cards, has come to us in this year 1377, but at what time it was invented, or by whom, I am ignorant." The card-playing monk also noted that "in the game which men call the game at cards, they paint the cards in different manners, and play with them in one way or another." This observation may mean playing cards had been in Europe long enough for different games, and different kinds of packs of cards to have evolved. (As for the phrase "paint the cards," remember, the date of this writing is 1377. Paper is scarce, and the Germans have not yet invented printing with moveable type. Cards were handmade, or, if printed from wood blocks, hand-painted.) But how did playing cards get to Europe? When last we saw them, they were heading westward from China (or India). There are four theories to explain how cards arrived in Europe: 1. Brought from China by the globe-trotting Marco Polo 2. Brought from the Holy Land by the slash-and-burn Crusaders 3. Brought to Central Europe by migrating Gypsies 4. Brought to Southern Europe by invading Moors and Saracens The Marco Polo Theory: Marco Polo and his family traveled in China for 17 years in the late 1200s. When the Polos returned to Italy, they were instant celebrities, and Marco's best-selling account of their Asian sojourn has kept his name alive these past 600 years. It's an intriguing theory, but one without supporting evidence. Marco never mentioned playing cards in his book. (Then again, he never mentioned the Great Wall of China, either. Perhaps he wasn't very observant.) Since no record has come to light to connect any of the Polos with playing cards, this theory is most likely a myth. The Crusader Theory: The Crusaders fought the resident Arabs for control of the Holy Land off and on from the 11th through the 13th centuries. They could have learned about playing cards from the Arabs during one of the many truces between Crusades. The time period is certainly correct, as the earliest written references to playing cards among the European kingdoms all date from the 1300s. Unfortunately for this theory, there's no evidence. If the Crusaders played cards, they didn't write home about it. (And we know, from their writings, that they did play Chess.) The Gypsy Theory: Gypsies are usually associated with the Tarot, cards thought to foretell the future. The first playing cards to cross into Europe were indeed Tarot cards. However, the Gypsies arrived on the scene too late, more than a century after Europeans started writing about cards. The Moor and Saracen Theory: Moor and Saracen are medieval-European names for Arabs. The Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula (site of modern-day Spain and Portugal) in the 8th century, and the Saracens invaded Sicily in the 9th century. These groups maintained a presence on the southern border of Europe for several hundred years, during which time there was considerable trading of cultures. (For example, the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest learned how to make adobe bricks from the Spanish colonizers, who had learned this trick from the Moors.) We know that Chess came to Europe in this way, and it's most likely that playing cards did, too. One last bit of evidence: The old Spanish and Italian words for cards were naipes and naibi, respectively. Not only are these words nearly identical, they're also quite close to the old Arabic word for cards, nabi. Nabi means "prophet"—a reference to the use of cards to foretell the future.

"The Stars Foretell, They Love You Well" The earliest cards known in Europe were called Tarot. We think of these cards today as being used strictly for fortune-telling, but in the 13th and 14th centuries the Spanish and the Italians were playing games with them, not peering into the future. By the 15th century, Tarot cards had taken on mystical associations, perhaps because of the Gypsy influence. The Europeans began to connect Tarot cards with their home-grown traditions of mysticism, alchemy, and magic. By 1540, when the first book appeared on fortune-telling with cards, the Tarot pack was not being used for anything else. There are 78 cards in a contemporary Tarot pack—the 52 cards we're familiar with from our standard pack, four extra court or face cards (these 56 cards are called the Minor Arcana) and 22 special cards representing various personages, objects, events, and elemental forces (the Major Arcana). Early Tarot packs varied in number of cards and in suit markings, but were eventually standardized using an Italian model. These are the Tarot suits (alternates used at various times are given in parentheses) and what each symbol is thought to represent: Cups (a Chalice): Clergy Swords: Warrior class Coins (Stars, Disks): Merchants Batons (Sticks, Wands, Rods): Peasants or workers This is a point that strengthens the case for India as the cradle of cards, as the four icons of Cups, Swords, Coins, and Batons are also held in the four hands of the Indian deity Ardhanari. Indian playing cards used three of these icons, replacing Cups with a Crown to represent the king. There are no such similarities between Tarot cards and cards from China.

The Church Versus the Card European clergy, as a whole, did not graciously accept playing cards (though many men of the cloth were soon caught up in the enthusiasm for card games). The symbols on the cards, as well as the Major Arcana of the Tarot, particularly troubled the Church. Vernon Bartlett told the story in The Past of Pastimes: "It seems reasonable to suppose that, if cards were brought to Europe by the Arabs...they may originally have been used to encourage Mohammedanism or some other Eastern faith; a French pack from the early 15th century has a Saracen as its king of diamonds. So it may be that for this reason, as well as the more obvious one of discouraging betting, the Christian church at one time strongly opposed cardplaying, for subsequently it went out of its way to counter any such heresy by encouraging the use of cards with Christian emblems on them..." As we're about to see, we owe it to the French for preventing what might have become a holy war over playing cards.

Let Them Play Cards "However playing cards may have found their way into Europe, and whatever country may first have used them, it is in France that their actual history begins." So wrote Catherine Perry Hargrave in the 1930s in her groundbreaking A History of Playing Cards, and all card scholars are indebted to her sleuthing. Though it's not known when playing cards first appeared in France, we know the French brought to this new amusement the same enthusiasm they devoted to empire-building and fighting with the English. References to cards began turning up in French literature as early as 1328, when the pastime was given equal billing with Tables (Backgammon). In 1392, during the reign of Charles VI, there appeared an entry in the royal account books for a sum of money paid to a local "painter" for three packs of cards "in gold and diverse colors, ornamented with many devices, for the diversion of our lord, the King." (Seventeen of these cards have survived the passage of the centuries and can be viewed in the National Library in Paris; they are all atouts, or trumps, from the Major Arcana of the Tarot.) That this transaction was recorded as just another everyday bit of budgeting indicates playing cards were well-known by this date. Given the relative scarcity of paper, the earliest European cards must have been similar to those painted for "our lord, the King"—costly! At first, only the gentry would have been able to afford them, but pastimes have a way of filtering down. The demand for cards would have led enterprising artisans to set up some sort of mass production of cheaper cards, using stencils and wood blocks. The odds of this having happened are good, as card playing in the last decade of the 14th century seems to have gotten out of hand—at least in the eyes of the authorities. A decree issued in Paris in 1397 forbids working people from playing "tennis, bowls, dice, cards, or ninepins on working days."

The First Great French Contribution to Playing Cards Remember, this is the 1300s. It'll be another century before Columbus sails in search of the Indies; two centuries before the Spanish Armada sails to conquer England; and three centuries before the Pilgrims sail to America in search of religious freedom. "Mass production" in the 1300s would still entail a considerable amount of handwork. How to speed the process? How about reducing the number of cards per pack? The first great French contribution to playing cards, then, was to eliminate the Major Arcana of the Tarot (the Church's primary objection) and the fourth court or face card (it was called the Knight), thus creating a pack of 52 cards.

The Second Great French Contribution The French next turned their attention to the suit signs (another clerical sticking point). In Spain and Italy, card players were still using the cups, swords, coins, and batons of the Tarot (and still do today). The Germans had adopted hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns. But the French invented the symbols that are now the standard in English-speaking countries and much of the rest of the world. Here they are in English, with their French equivalents and the groups they represent: Hearts ("Coeurs") Clergymen Spades ("Piques") Knights Clubs ("Trefles") Farmers Diamonds ("Carreaux") Peasants Spades were taken from the point of a lance, though no one knows why it's called a "spade." It's conceivable this is an English mistranslation of the Spanish espadas, or swords, which suggests a Spanish influence on English cards. Clubs are clover leaves, a symbol of farming. Diamonds do not represent money—they represent arrowheads, as used by archers and bowmen. In France at this time, archers and bowmen came from the peasant class.

The Third Great French Contribution Neither playing cards nor Chess had a queen when they first appeared in Europe. (There are women represented in the Major Arcana, including an empress and a female pope, but these are special cases. There are no women in the Minor Arcana, the cards most card players are familiar with.) In India, the king in Chess was supported by a counselor. In early playing cards, the Spanish, Italians, and French used the king, the chevalier (a lower nobleman), and the valet or knave (meaning, in those days, an even lower nobleman) as the court or face cards. The Germans had a king, an ober or chief officer, and an unter or subordinate. The Spanish or the Italians replaced the counselor in Chess with the queen; however, since the French are the ones who condensed the standard pack and dropped the knight, we can conclude that they're also the ones who replaced the chevalier with the queen. Perhaps French card makers were trying to make up for the lost women of the Major Arcana?

Deal the English In We can make an excellent guess as to when playing cards crossed the English Channel. It's very probable that no one in England played games with cards before 1400, and our source for that statement is the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who died in that year. He spent his writing years chronicling the everyday lives of the men and women around him—and though he often mentioned games (Chess, Checkers, Backgammon), he never mentioned cards. The earliest reference to playing cards in English comes in 1463, when cardmakers of London petitioned the King to stop the import of foreign-made packs. This is particularly interesting for two reasons: 1 In 1463, the English weren't making their own paper. They weren't even making their own books—William Caxton, the first man to print books in English, had yet to have his first lesson on the latest hardware (the printing press). And yet, not only were there English cardmakers, there were enough of them to form a political lobby! 2. H.T. Morley, writing in Old and Curious Playing Cards, noted that "this express mention of playing cards shows that there must have been a fairly large trade in their manufacture, and that their use was well-known long before." If the English weren't playing cards before 1400, but were buying every pack in sight by1463, then this pastime had truly swept the kingdom (at a time when the pace of life and the means by which goods, people, and pastimes were distributed were considerably slower than they are today). The English and the French had just finished fighting the Hundred Years War, leading Morley to theorize that playing cards entered the country by way of English soldiers returning from the front lines in France. The English gentry were no happier to see the "rabble" play cards than the French gentry had been decades earlier. Hargrave found that by 1484, card games had become a major activity among the upper classes, especially at Christmas, and they didn't want to share. In 1495, King Henry VII proclaimed cards off-limits to "servants and apprentices," except at Christmas. (Even then, as Morley discovered, if you occupied the low rungs on the social ladder, you could only play cards in your master's house and, even then, only with your master present.) His Highness was ignored. Card games became so popular that, in 1529, they even turned up in a sermon, delivered by Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester: "And where you are wont to celebrate Christmas in playing at cards, I intend, by God's grace, to deal unto you Christ's cards, wherein you shall perceive Christ's Rule." (Latimer was burned at the stake some years later, though not because of his pro-card-playing stance.) As for the English card makers who had petitioned for royal protection, they received that protection and prospered as a result. Hargrave, observing the English social scene less than a century after Latimer's sermon, found that a "fever of gaming" mesmerized everyone from the King on down. Somebody had to make cards for all those people. By 1628, there were enough card makers in London alone to form a guild, grandly named "The Master, Wardens, and Commonality of the Mystery of the Makers of Playing Cards of the City of London."

Hitting the Books While the French produced the first book on playing cards, the English turned books about playing cards and games in general into a publishing phenomenon that continues right through our own time. The first English books on games with and without cards were part of a series called The Gamester, first appearing in 1674. On the world stage, the country that would be the United States of America was still a few tiny communities hugging the Atlantic coast. Boston was barely half a century old; New Amsterdam had been seized from the Dutch and renamed New York just a decade before; and Philadelphia was still just an idea that Quaker leader William Penn was kicking around in the back of his mind. But England, meanwhile, had survived a brutal civil war and seen the Stuarts restored to the throne. A period of relative peace and increasing prosperity was beginning, and with that prosperity came more leisure time. Hence The Gamester series, which proved to be insanely popular. Printed books were still not common, and yet there were often two editions of the same book on games in one year. The books in this series included The Court Gamester, The Compleat Gamester, The Gamester's Companion, and even The Polite Gamester. Many of these books were written by academics skilled in mathematics, and one, published in 1718, was dedicated "by permission" to Isaac Newton. In his preface to The Court Gamester (1734), Richard Seymour provided a simple rationale for learning how to play these games: "Gaming is become so much the fashion among the Beau Monde, that he who in Company should appear ignorant of the games in Vogue, would be reckoned low bred & hardly fit for conversation." This brings us to the greatest name in gaming: Edmond Hoyle.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hoyle Has Left the Building "The only truly immortal human being on record is an Englishman named Edmond Hoyle, who was born in 1679 and buried in 1769 but who has never really died." — Richard L. Frey, in The Fireside Book of Cards Edmond Hoyle's name is to games what Noah Webster's is to words. One means dictionary, the other means games and their rules. Noah Webster compiled the first American dictionary. Edmond Hoyle revealed useful strategies for three card games and two board games. To what, then, do we credit Hoyle's immortality? To the lack of copyright laws in the 18th century and to a memorable phrase, "according to Hoyle." What Hoyle did in the first 50 or so years of his life is not known. By the late 1730s, he had become a tutor of the game of Whist, and, for the edification of his students, he wrote A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist (1742). Hoyle's little Whist book was an immediate sensation. It ran through more than a dozen editions in his lifetime, was translated into French and German, and gave Whist such a boost that it became the leading game in England. This forerunner of Bridge soon surpassed in popularity the French games of Piquet and Quadrille (both of which began a nose-dive toward extinction). Wherever Whist was played, people tried to execute the strategies Hoyle had spelled out—in other words, they tried to play the game "according to Hoyle."

Plagiarism Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery Encouraged by this success, the enterprising Hoyle wrote four more "short treatises" and collected them in one five-game volume in 1746. This was the first edition of Hoyle's Games. Literary pirates immediately came out with their own books on games, and on each one they slapped the name "Hoyle" without bothering to pay him for the privilege. They also reprinted Hoyle's own book without paying him for that, either. Hoyle tried to fight this tidal wave of piracy, but by the end of the 1700s, there were dozens of these books in print, all by writers not named Hoyle but all published under that name. Hoyle crossed the Atlantic in 1796, not quite 30 years after his death, when the first book on gaming appeared in America: Hoyle's Games, published in Philadelphia. It was, of course, a theft of Hoyle's own book from 1746, with the addition of games Hoyle probably had never played. Surprisingly, Hoyle (and the other Gamester authors) never discussed the rules for playing the games described in their books. "There is a widespread belief that all card games have 'official' rules and that none is genuine that has not first been strained through a man called Hoyle," card scholar David Parlett wrote in The Penguin Book of Card Games. "But Hoyle never did lay down official rules. His specialty was guidelines to good strategy." Richard Frey agreed: "There are countless millions who own one of the innumerable Hoyle books and in whose minds Hoyle is a living man, 'the man who wrote the book,' who probably lives in New York or Los Angeles or Miami or wherever authors live, to whom a letter may be addressed if a ticklish problem arises, and who might even be gotten on the other end of a phone call if the problem were sufficiently urgent." And so Edmond Hoyle has achieved a curious immortality. His name means "games," and no evidence to the contrary will ever change that. When Ely Culbertson, the man who popularized contract bridge, wrote a book on games, he called it Culbertson's Hoyle. Oh, and the five games Edmond Hoyle actually wrote about? They are Whist, Quadrille, Piquet, Backgammon, and Chess.

In the Zone The English may also be credited with the invention of the playing-card coach. Hoyle (the Whist tutor) wasn't alone, as seen in this passage from a London newspaper of 1753, in which the writer lamented the low state into which parenting had fallen: "There is a new kind of tutor lately introduced into some Families of Fashion in this Kingdom, principally to complete the education of the Young Ladies, namely a Gaming Master; who attends his hour as regularly as the Music, Dancing, and French Master; in order to instruct young Misses in Principles of the fashionable Accomplishment of Card playing. However absurd such a conduct in Parents may appear to the Serious and Sober minded, it is undeniably true that such a Practice is now introduced by some, and will it is feared by many more."

American Contributions to Playing Cards As befits a country of inventors and tinkerers and doers, the American contributions to playing cards are related to their manufacture. Making playing cards was a big business in Massachusetts in the first half of the 19th century, but the actual manufacturing process was still a slow one. Until 1840, the paper stock for the cardboard used to make cards was glued together by hand. In that year, David H. Gilbert, an employee in a playing-card factory outside of Boston, invented a machine that pasted this paper together. Card production skyrocketed. Card technology leaped forward again in the 1930s, when American manufacturers started printing cards on plastic. This greatly extended the useful life of a pack of cards. By the way: when Americans speak of a set of 52 playing cards, they usually refer to it as the deck. The English call it a pack. When playing cards first came to American shores, people on both sides of the Atlantic were still saying deck. But as the two countries grew apart, the English began to say pack while the Americans kept saying deck. Using deck to refer to playing cards connects you with the era of Shakespeare and to a word the English themselves no longer use.

The Evolution of Card Design, or, Why Is a Jack a Jack? Though playing cards as we in the West know them have traveled a thousand years and thousands of miles, the look of the cards has remained remarkably consistent, especially since the French standardized the suit signs. In France, the king, queen, and jack have usually been based on medieval French figures. There were occasional diversions, as when artists tried to win the favor of the reigning monarch by painting the king of one suit to look like him. The French king of hearts has also been painted or drawn to represent the biblical Adam, Julius Caesar, Constantine I (the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity), and Alexander the Great. The king today is thought to be a likeness of Charlemagne. Though the French queen of hearts has never been drawn as Eve or Mrs. Constantine, she has at times represented (or has been said to represent) Helen of Troy (the jack of hearts was her lover, Paris), the biblical Rachel, Elizabeth I of England, the goddess Juno, and Joan of Arc. Today the queen of hearts is thought to be Judith of Bavaria, the daughter-in-law of Charlemagne. Thus the king and queen of hearts in French packs are very possibly pictures of the two hottest celebrities of 9th-century Europe. There's less variety in face cards in English-speaking countries. Our face cards are all dressed in the style of Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty. (His years in power, 1485-1509, came a generation or two after the introduction of playing cards in England.) The king, queen, and jack represent no one specifically and don't vary from suit to suit. Attempts to change or somehow improve "the bizarre old figures with which we are familiar" have always failed, Hargrave observes. "Many innovations have been offered from time to time, but they have been popular only as novelties…For serious card playing the unchanging old conventional cards have always been preferred."

A Linguistic Journey So, what about that jack? What exactly is a jack? Remember, the first face cards were king, chevalier, and valet or knave. The chevalier became the queen. In England, the lowest face card was called a knave, which over time changed in meaning from a nobleman of middling birth to a man of humble birth to a rogue (the meaning most of us associate with knave today). Now we go back to the final years of the Hundred Years War between England and France. We're approaching the middle of the 1400s, and England is losing the land it had won in France in the beginning of the war. The English, looking for a scapegoat, turned on a gentleman named William de la Pole, a soldier and statesman. This de la Pole was to blame, they decided, and dubbed him "Jack Napis." Why they dubbed him that is obscure (it might have something to do with a board game played by the "lower" classes), but let's keep going. The unfortunate de la Pole died in 1450. By 1526, the nickname Jack Napis had been blurred into jackanapes, meaning a rogue, like the knave in cards. Soon the knave was being called the jackanapes, and then that was shortened to jack. So every time you play the jack in a game of cards, you're making a connection with medieval England's doomed attempt to conquer France and one very unlucky individual.

The Most Unusual Use of Playing Cards on Record? The indefatigable Catherine Perry Hargrave unearthed this story, which she recounts at length in A History of Playing Cards. It seems, in the year 1685, the governor of France's Canadian provinces in North America found himself in a difficult position. He was broke, and so was everyone else in Canada. He explained his predicament and what he did about it in a letter to his superior back in France, dated September 24, 1685: "I have found myself this year in great straits with regard to the subsistence of the soldiers...I have drawn from my own funds and from those of my friends, all I have been able to get, but at last finding them without means to render me further assistance, and not knowing to what saint to pay my vows, money being extremely scarce, having distributed considerable sums on every side for the pay of the soldiers, it occurred to me to issue, instead of money, notes on playing cards, which I have had cut in quarters... "I have issued an ordinance by which I have obliged all the inhabitants to receive this money in payments, and to give it circulation, at the same time pledging myself, in my own name, to redeem the said notes. No person has refused them, and so good has been the effect that by this means the troops have lived as usual." This card-money was issued again in 1686, in 1690, in 1691, and in 1708 (when an issue of card-money even replaced copper coins). In 1719, all card-money was withdrawn and actual French currency reappeared in Canada for the first time in 30 years; unfortunately, everyone was broke again by 1729. Special packs of playing cards were immediately sent from Paris to fill the gap, packs that used a special mark— a coat of arms—to make them hard to counterfeit. The French were getting good at this. Card-money remained in use until 1763, when the French surrendered Canada to the British after losing the French and Indian War. Losing Canada was a disaster for French dreams of empire—and losing the Canadian currency market was equally catastrophic for French makers of playing cards! Contact Information

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1. Click Start 2. Click Run 3. Type dxdiag and click OK 4. The DirectX diagnosis program should now start up. (This may take a few minutes) 5. Click below on “save all information” and a file by the name of dxdiag.txt will be created.

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Excluding the internet website link(s), Encore Software, Inc. (“Encore”) warrants, for your benefit alone, for a period of 90 days from the date of commencement of this License Agreement (referred to as "Warranty Period") that the Software CD-ROM in which the Software is contained is free from defects in material and workmanship. If during the Warranty Period, a defect in the Software appears, you may return the physical CD-ROM containing the Software to Encore or notify the Electronic Software Delivery ("ESD") provider from which you purchased the electronic download of the Software of such defect for either replacement, or, if so elected by Encore or the ESD Provider, as applicable, refund of amounts paid by you under this License Agreement or the license agreement accepted by you in connection with the ESD (“ ESD Agreement”), respectively. You agree that the foregoing constitutes your sole and exclusive remedy for breach by Encore of any warranties made under this Agreement. EXCEPT FOR THE WARRANTIES SET FORTH ABOVE, THE SOFTWARE, AND THE SOFTWARE CONTAINED THEREIN, ARE LICENSED "AS IS," AND ENCORE DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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Remedies

Your exclusive remedy shall be, at Encore’s sole option, (i) the refund of the amount you paid for the Software; or (ii) repair or replacement of the Software, provided that, if a physical CD-ROM containing the Software was purchased, such defective CD-ROM is returned to Encore (at Encore Software, Inc., Attn: Customer Service, 999 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 700, El Segundo, CA 90245.), and regardless of the format of the originally purchased Software, proof of the date of purchase is submitted to Encore (for physical CD-ROMs) or the ESD provider (for electronic downloads) within ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. This Limited Warranty is void if failure of the Software has resulted from accident, abuse, neglect or misapplication. Any replacement Software will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever is longer. Except as set forth above, the Software is sold "as-is", without any express or implied warranties of any kind. References Vernon Bartlett, The Past of Pastimes (1969) Henry G. Francis, Alan F. Truscott, and Dorothy A. Francis (eds.),The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th edition, 1994) Frederic Grunfeld (editor), Games of the World (1975) Catherine Perry Hargrave, A History of Playing Cards and A Bibliography of Cards and Gaming (1930) Oswald Jacoby & Albert Morehead (editors), The Fireside Book of Cards (1957) The Fireside Book of Cards includes the essays “The Origin of Gaming and Cards” and “The Reign of Hoyle” by Catherine Perry Hargrave, “Designs of the Face Cards” by Robert Hutchings, “Who Is Hoyle?” by Richard L. Frey, excerpts from The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith, and “The Origin of Contract Bridge” by Harold S. Vanderbilt. Merilyn Simonds Mohr, The New Games Treasury (1993) Albert Morehead & Geoffrey Mott-Smith (editors), Hoyle’s Rules of Games (1983) Albert Morehead, Richard L. Frey, & Geoffrey Mott-Smith, The New Complete Hoyle Revised (1991) H.T. Morley, Old and Curious Playing Cards: Their History and Types from Many Countries and Periods (1931) Jack Olsen, The Mad World of Bridge (1960) David Parlett, The Penguin Book of Card Games (1979), A History of Card Games (1990), A Dictionary of Card Games (1992), and Teach Yourself Card Games for One (1994) On the Web, visit www.pagat.com, an extensive card games site with information about card games from all over the world. Hoyle Bucks Hoyle Bucks are frequent flier miles for gamers. When you accomplish certain feats while playing Hoyle Card Games, you automatically earn Hoyle Bucks. The more you play, the more you'll earn! Spend your bucks on new card decks, backgrounds, music tracks, and décor items. Your current Hoyle Bucks balance and any feats you've accomplished recently are shown in the Hoyle Bucks display in the lower-right corner of every game screen. Rolling over the display will show you the four most recent feats you accomplished in that game.

Accessing the Hoyle Bucks Area To spend your Hoyle Bucks, view your account ledger (for a complete list of the feats you've accomplished for this game), or learn which feats will earn Hoyle Bucks, go to the Hoyle Bucks area of Hoyle Card Games. There are three ways to get there: click on Hoyle Bucks from the Main Screen, select Hoyle Bucks from the Go To menu, or click on your current Hoyle Bucks balance on the Hoyle Bucks display in the game screen.

Navigating in the Hoyle Bucks Area When you first enter the Hoyle Bucks area, you are presented with a desktop with several items on it: the catalog, the guide, and your ledger. Click on any of these desktop items to use them, or navigate using the control bar at the bottom of the screen. Click on the picture below for information on that part of the control bar.

See Also Earning Hoyle Bucks Spending Hoyle Bucks Using Spacemaker Disabling Hoyle Bucks Earning Hoyle Bucks Earning Hoyle Bucks is easy: all you have to do is play! Each game awards Hoyle Bucks for accomplishing various feats while playing. The size of the award for each feat depends on many factors, including the difficulty of the feat, the number of different ways to earn bucks in the game, and your game settings.

The Hoyle Bucks Guide To see the exact award amounts for each feat based on your current game settings, refer to the Hoyle Bucks Guide by going to the Hoyle Bucks area, and clicking on the Guide button a the bottom of the screen. Choose which game to view by clicking on the appropriate tab along the side of the guide. Then, scroll through the pages with the arrows on the bottom corner of each page, or with the arrow keys on your keyboard. Each entry will show you the name of the feat, how to accomplish it, how many times you've accomplished that feat, and the current reward value for accomplishing that feat with your current game settings. Note: some actions disable Hoyle Bucks production for the remainder of the current game: adding a second human player, receiving a game hint, using Undo from the Action menu, and restoring a saved game.

The Hoyle Bucks Ledger To see how many bucks you've earned and where you've spent them, refer to the ledger by going to the Hoyle Bucks area, and clicking on the Ledger button a the bottom of the screen. The ledger contains a record of your 2,000 most recent Hoyle Bucks transactions. This includes earning bucks, buying items from the catalog, and selling décor items in Spacemaker. You can sort the ledger by any of the columns by clicking on the column heading. You can page through the ledger using the arrow buttons at the bottom of the ledger page. Clicking a single arrow (or using the right and left arrows on your keyboard) will take your forward or back one page. Clicking a double arrow takes you forward or back ten pages.

See Also Spending Hoyle Bucks Using Spacemaker Disabling Hoyle Bucks Spending Hoyle Bucks So now that you've earned some Hoyle Bucks, what do you do with them? Spend them on items in the Hoyle Bucks catalog, of course! Click on the Catalog button at the bottom of the Hoyle Bucks screen, and spend your hard-earned Hoyle cash.

To purchase an item: 1 Choose a section to browse by clicking on one of the tabs along the side of the catalog. 2 Turn the page by clicking the arrows next to the catalog page numbers, or by using the right and left arrows on your keyboard. 3 When you find an item you would like to purchase that you can afford, click on the Buy Now button. 4 To put your item into use right away, click on the link at the bottom of the catalog page: either Backgrounds, Cards, Environment, or Spacemaker. The link will be the appropriate one for using the items sold on that page. Note: When you purchase an item for the first time, the item becomes highlighted in the catalog, so you can see at a glance what you have purchased before. Some items can only be purchased once. When you purchase a one-time item, the Buy Now button changes to Sold. Other items can be purchased multiple times. All of your recent spending is tracked in the Hoyle Bucks Ledger for your review.

Backgrounds Purchase additional backgrounds for your gaming sessions! Once purchased, a background becomes available for activation in the Backgrounds menu. Select Backgrounds… from the Options menu to choose your background.

Card Decks Complete your collection of Hoyle card decks! Once purchased, a new deck of cards becomes available for use in the Cards menu. Select Cards… from the Options menu to choose your deck of cards.

Music Unlock more music with your Hoyle Bucks! Once purchased, a new music track becomes available for playing in the Environment menu. Select Environment… from the Options menu to choose your background music.

Décor Express your personality by displaying décor items around yourself. Each décor item purchased becomes available in the Spacemaker interface. Use Spacemaker to arrange your décor items. To access Spacemaker, click on Spacemaker at the bottom of catalog pages containing décor items, or select Spacemaker from the Options menu. Some décor items are interactive; click on your objects during a game to interact with them!

Clearance! Clearance items are décor items priced to move! There are clearance items from all the other categories, maybe you'll find a nice bargain…

See Also Earning Hoyle Bucks Using Spacemaker Disabling Hoyle Bucks Using Spacemaker In Spacemaker, you can arrange décor items you've purchased with your Hoyle Bucks around you. You can access Spacemaker by selecting Spacemaker in the Options menu, or by clicking Spacemaker at the bottom of catalog pages containing décor items. Click the picture of Spacemaker below to get help with that part of Spacemaker:

To put an item from your closet into use: 1 Items you have purchased start out in your closet. Click an item name from your Items in closet list to select it. 2 Click Place to put the selected object into use. 3 You can adjust the position of most décor items. Click Next Position to cycle the selected décor item through several possible locations until you find one that is close to where you want it to go. 4 Use the arrows below the display to adjust the location of your item in smaller increments. 5 Adjust whether the selected item is in front of or behind any other previously placed items using the Move Forward and Move Backwards buttons.

To put an item in use back into your closet: 1 Select an item in use by clicking on it in your display, or click an item name from your Items in use list. 2 Click Remove to move the selected object to your closet.

To sell an item: You can sell off some of your items if you have run out of space in your closet, or you want to buy something new and don't have enough cash on hand. 1 Select an item from either your Items in closet list or your Items in use list. 2 Click Sell. 3 A confirmation message will appear. Click OK if you still want to sell the item for the indicated price.

See Also Spending Hoyle Bucks Earning Hoyle Bucks Disabling Hoyle Bucks Disabling Hoyle Bucks If you would rather not be alerted when you earn Hoyle Bucks, simply click the Hoyle Bucks icon on the Hoyle Bucks display in the lower-right corner of your game screen. This essentially "minimizes" Hoyle Bucks. You will still earn them, but you will not be notified when you do, and you can simply ignore the feature. Click the icon again to restore the display and hear sound effects when you earn bucks.

See Also Spending Hoyle Bucks Earning Hoyle Bucks Using Spacemaker Place & Remove Place the selected item from your closet onto your plaque area, or remove a selected item in use and put it back in your closet. Description Item description. Sell Button Sell the selected item for the indicated amount of Hoyle Bucks. Placement Arrows Use these arrows to move the currently selected item in small increments, if it is a moveable object. Use the "Next Position" button (below) to move the object in large increments. Object Layers If you place many objects around you, objects may become hidden behind each other. Use these buttons to move objects in front of and behind each other. Click "Move Back" to move the currently selected object one place backwards in the object order. Click "Move Forward" to move the currently selected object one place forwards in the object order. Items in Use A list of the items currently used in your space. Select an item from the list to make it your active item. Items in Closet A list of items you own that are not currently in use. Select an item in your closet and click "Place" to move it into your display. Totals Shows your current item count and your current balance of Hoyle Bucks. Done Click to exit Spacemaker and save your display as currently shown. Click to Click the Bucks Point to the feats box with your minimize balance to go to mouse to see the feats you've the display.the Hoyle Bucks area. performed most recently. Next Position Button Cycles the currently selected item through several preset locations. Current Display This shows you what your space would look like during a game if you clicked "Done." Switch to the Hoyle Bucks Guide and learn how to earn bucks in each game. Switch to the Hoyle Bucks Catalog and spend your bucks. Switch to your Hoyle Bucks ledger and view your recent Hoyle Bucks financial history. Your current Hoyle bucks balance. Opens this help file. Exit the Hoyle Bucks area. How to Play Bridge Contract Bridge is played by four people in two partnerships with a standard 52-card pack. The cards in each suit rank from ace (the highest) to the deuce (the lowest). The suits rank in this order: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. Cards are dealt one at a time, face down, clockwise until each player has received 13 cards. The bidding or "auction" stage comes next, beginning with the dealer. The various things you can do are known as calls: Pass You may pass rather than make a bid. Bid This is your declaration that you intend to win a certain number of odd tricks (odd meaning tricks in excess of six; the first six tricks are called the book). You must either name a trump suit or choose notrump. The lowest possible bid is one, the highest is seven. (There are 13 tricks in all, but remember that the first six don't count in this process.) For example, you might say "One diamond," "One notrump," "Four spades," and so on. Your bid must overcall or top the preceding bid (if any). This is also called making a sufficient bid. Overcalling a bid means you must name a higher number of odd tricks and/or a higher-ranking denomination: notrump (high), spades, hearts, diamonds, and then clubs. One spade will overcall one heart; two clubs will overcall one spade; two diamonds will overcall one notrump; and so on. Double You can double the last bid, so long as one of your opponents made that bid and no one has yet called a double. Calling double doubles the value of tricks taken. However, if the bid doubled was for, say, three spades, any player in the rest of the bidding could overcall it with three notrumps, four clubs, and so on, thereby canceling the double. A particular bid can be doubled only once. Redouble A player may in turn redouble the last bid, if a) the bid was made by that player or by that player's partner; b) if the bid has been doubled by an opponent; and c) if the bid hasn't already been redoubled. This further increases the scoring values, but like the double it can be canceled by a higher bid. A particular bid can be redoubled only once.

The Auction The auction begins when any player makes a bid. If all four players pass the first time around, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer in turn deals. When a bid, double, or redouble is followed by three consecutive passes, the auction is closed. The suit named in the final bid is the trump suit for that hand (if the final bid was a notrump, the hand will be played without trumps). Of the two players in the partnership that made the last bid in the auction, the player who first bid the suit (or notrump) is the declarer. The number of odd tricks named in the final bid is that player's contract. The player to the declarer's left leads the first card. The declarer's partner then places his or her hand face-up. This hand, and declarer's partner, are called the dummy. The declarer's partner takes no further part in the hand. The declarer selects the cards to play from the dummy hand.

The Object of the Game The object of play is to win tricks. You are required to follow suit if possible. If you're void in the suit that was led, you can play trump or any other card. A trick is won by the highest trump, or, if no trumps come out, by the highest card of the suit led. The player that wins a trick leads the next. Play continues until all 13 tricks have been taken.

Keeping Score Bridge score sheets are halved by a horizontal line. The trick score goes below the line; all other scores go above the line. If the declarer fulfills the contract, winning as many or more odd tricks than the contract called for, he or she scores below the line for every odd trick named in the contract. Any trick won by the declarer in excess of his or her contract is called an overtrick, and is scored above the line. Undertrick points are scored by the opposing partnership above the line (for the number of tricks short of the contract). Note: Hoyle Card Games version of Bridge does not use an actual "horizontal line" to display scores. Bonus points are awarded for slams, honors, and doubled contracts. You don't automatically get a slam by winning 12 or 13 tricks -- you must first make the bid. A small slam contract is 6 of a denomination (suit or notrump). If you make the contract (12 or 13 tricks) you get the small slam bonus. A grand slam is the same, except it is a contract of 7 of a denomination (all 13 tricks). Honors are the cards ten through ace (10, J, Q, K, A) of the trump suit. The honors bonus is awarded for having 4 or 5 trump honors in one hand, or for having all 4 aces in one hand in a notrump contract. When a side has scored 100 or more points below the line (trick points), it has won a game. A game may require more than one hand to decide the outcome. The next game begins with both sides back to zero. To learn about Bridge scoring, click here: A side that has won a game is said to be vulnerable. A vulnerable side receives increased bonuses in some cases, and is subject to higher penalties if it does not fulfill a contract. A rubber ends when one side wins two games. All points scored by both sides, both above the line and below the line, are then added up. A rubber bonus is awarded to the winning team. Playing Four-Deal Bridge

Playing Bridge After the cards are dealt, play begins with the auction. To make a bid, click the square for your bid in the Select Call dialog box. To pass, click Pass (or press Enter on the keyboard). To double, click Double. To learn about bidding, click here: If all four players pass the first time around, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer in turn deals. When a bid, double, or redouble is followed by three consecutive passes, the auction is closed. The suit named in the final bid is the trump suit for that hand (if the final bid was a notrump, the hand will be played without trumps). Of the two players in the partnership that made the last bid in the auction, the player who first bid the suit (or notrump) is the declarer. The number of odd tricks named in the final bid is that player's contract. To learn about actions in Bridge, click here:

To play your cards: Click the card you want to play and drag it to its open spot on the table, then drop it there. Or, right-click the card to automatically place it on the table.

To learn more about bridge: See the strategy guide that came with Hoyle Card Games to learn more about bidding in bridge and strategies for winning play.

Game Options You have the option of setting your game type, how your cards are sorted, dummy options, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Bridge Settings on the Options menu. For help on the options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Playing Four-Deal Bridge Contract Bridge Scoring System Standard Bidding System Bridge Strategies and Tips Bridge Background dummy The hand held by the declarer's partner, available for play by the declarer. Both the hand and the person are called the dummy. honors The cards ten through ace (10, J, Q, K, A) of the trump suit. An honors bonus is awarded for having 4 or 5 trump honors in one hand, or for having all 4 aces in one hand in a notrump contract. notrump A bid that declares that no suit will be trump. With this bid, there is no trump; the ace of the suit led always wins the trick. odd trick Tricks taken in excess of six; the first six tricks are called the book. How to Play Four-Deal Bridge You have the option of the playing Four-Deal Bridge (also known as Chicago) instead of traditional Rubber Bridge.

To change your Bridge game to Four-Deal Bridge: Click Bridge Settings on the Options menu, and then select Four-Deal Bridge.

Playing Four-Deal Bridge Four-Deal Bridge is played much like traditional Rubber Bridge. In Four-Deal Bridge, four hands are played and the team with the highest total score wins the round (as opposed to two out of three games in Rubber Bridge). A round consists of four deals, one by each player in turn. Vulnerability is automatic, as follows: First deal: Neither side vulnerable. Second and third deals: Dealer's side vulnerable; opponents not vulnerable (even if they previously made game). Fourth deal: Both sides vulnerable. A passed-out deal is redealt by the same dealer. A bonus of 300 is given for making game when not vulnerable and 500 when vulnerable. A part-score carries over as in Rubber Bridge and can help to make game in the next deal or deals, but is canceled by any game. A bonus of 100 is given for making a part-score on the fourth deal. After four deals have been played, the scores are totaled and entered on the back score, as in Rubber Bridge, and a new round begins. A round in Four-Deal Bridge counts as a rubber in your Bridge statistics.

See Also How to Play Bridge The Contract Bridge Scoring System

Trick Points (scored below the line by declarer) Each odd trickbid & made in D or C 20 Each odd trick bid & made in H or S 30 First odd trick bid & made in NT 40 Subsequent odd tricks, NT 30 If bid was doubled, multiply trick score by two. If bid was redoubled multiply by four.

Overtrick Points (scored above the line by declarer) Each trick over contract in D or C, undoubled 20 Each trick over contract in NT, H, S, undoubled 30 Each trick over contract in any suit: Doubled 100 (200 if vulnerable) Redoubled 200 (400 if vulnerable)

Undertrick Points (scored above the line by defenders)

Not Vulnerable First undertrick 50 First undertrick, doubled 100 First undertrick, redoubled 200 Second and third undertrick 50 Second and third undertrick, doubled 200 Second and third undertrick, redoubled 400 Each subsequent undertrick 50 Each subsequent undertrick, doubled 300 Each subsequent undertrick, redoubled 600

Vulnerable First undertrick 100 First undertrick, doubled 200 First undertrick, redoubled 400 Each subsequent undertrick 100 Each subsequent undertrick, doubled 300 Each subsequent undertrick, redoubled 600

Bonus Points (scored above the line by declarer) Making doubled contract 50 Making redoubled contract 100 Small Slam (6 odd tricks bid & made) 500 (750 if vulnerable) Grand Slam (7 odd tricks bid & made) 1,000 (1,500 if vulnerable) Rubber Bonus: if the opponents won 1 game 500 if the opponents won no games 700

Honors Points (scored above the line by either partnership) Four trump honors in one hand 100 Five trump honors in one hand 150 Four aces in one hand (NT contract) 150 See Also How to Play Bridge The Standard Bidding System for Bridge Hoyle Card Games uses a system adapted from the ACBL Standard Yellow Card System. Yellow Card is intended as an uncomplicated modern treatment of Standard American bidding rules and conventions, suitable for play in games where all players use the same system. Although ACBL Standard Yellow Card System tournaments did not become popular in North America, adaptations of "Yellow Card" are popular in on-line bridge environments, where the need to reach uncomplicated agreements in casual partnerships is paramount. Likewise, the environment in Hoyle Card Games invites easy partnerships with the computer players, while maintaining the potential for either serious competitive play or casual fun. With exceptions for the most important conventions, most bids are natural, so novices can adapt to the system with relative ease. Opening Bids Preemptive Openings Responses to Major Openings Slam Bidding Opener's Second Bid Responses to 4NT Blackw ood Responses to Jacoby 2NT Responses to 5NT Blackw ood Responder's Second Bid Responses to 4C Gerber Responses to Minor Openings Responses to 5C Gerber Responses to 1NT Opening Competitive Bidding Responses to Stayman Overcalls Responses to Jacoby Transfers Takeout Doubles Response to Club or Diamond "Bust" Response to 1NT Balancing Bids Responses to 2NT Opening Competitive Sequences After 1NT Responses to 3NT Opening Competitive Responses to Takeout Doubles Strong 2C Opening and Responses Other Competitive Sequences Opener's Responses to a 2D Response to 2C Penalty Doubles Weak Tw o-Bid Openings and Responses Defensive Leads Responses to 2NT Responses to Weak Tw o-Bids Defensive Signals Yellow Card System Bidding

Opening Bids 13 points to open, slightly less with good distribution. 5-card majors in all seats. Open highest suit of equal lengths (such as 1S over 1H with 5-5 split). 1D with 4-4 in the minors. 1C with 3-3 in the minors. 1NT = balanced 15-17. 2NT = balanced 20-21. 3NT = balanced 25-27. 2C is a strong artificial opening (see below). 2D, 2H, 2S are weak two-bids (see below). Other bids are preemptive (see below).

Responses to Major Openings New suit at 1 level (such as a 1S response to 1H) 6 or more points, 4+ cards in suit. 1NT 6-10 points, denies support for opener's suit (NOT a forcing bid). New suit at 2 level -- 11 or more points, 4 cards or more in suit, forcing bid, willingness to rebid in next round. Raise in opener's suit, 3+ trump support, 6-10 points. Jump raise in opener's suit, limit bid showing 10-12 points and 3+ trump support. 2NT Jacoby 2NT, 13+ dummy points, slam invitational (see below). Jump shifts (such as 3C over 1S) strong hands inviting slam. 3NT 15-17 balanced points with 2 cards in opener's suit. Game in opener's suit, weak hand with 5 cards of trump support and a singleton or void.

Opener's Second Bid

Minimum Hand (13-16 points) a) notrump bid b) raise of responder's suit c) non-reverse bid of a third suit (can also show medium hand) d) rebid of opener's suit

Medium Hand (17-18 points) a) jump raise b) jump rebid of opener's suit c) reverse bid of a third suit d) non-reverse bid of a third suit (can also show minimum hand)

Maximum Hand (19+ points) a) jump in notrump b) double jump raise c) double jump rebid of opener's suit (i.e. for game) d) jump shift in a third suit

Responses to Jacoby 2NT a) 3-bid of a suit shows a singleton *or* void in that suit. b) 4 of opener's suit shows a minimum hand without a singleton or void. c) 3NT shows a medium hand without a singleton or void. d) 3 of opener's suit shows a maximum hand without a singleton or void.

Responder's Second Bid In response to suit bids by opener, responder chooses between ending the bidding with a partscore, inviting game, bidding game, or forcing game with another informational bid: 1NT is a signoff bid. 2 of opener's suit shows 2 card trump support and denies support opener's second suit. 2 of a previously bid suit is a signoff bid. 2NT or 3 of a previously bid suit (other than opener's first suit) invites game. 3 of opener's first suit is game-forcing. A third (or fourth) suit bid (including raises of opener's second suit) invites game, and is forcing. Fourth suit bids are sometimes used artificially to show minimal support for that suit. In response to a 1NT second bid by opener, responses are similar: 2 of a previously bid suit is a signoff bid. A reverse bid or jump shift in a new suit is informational and game-forcing. Responder can bid game directly.

Responses to Minor Openings Principles similar to Major Openings, except: a) Unless there is a clear fit in the opened suit, the immediate focus is on finding a fit in a major suit, since opener may have a good 4-card major or 3-card support for responder's 5-card major. b) 4 diamonds are needed to raise a 1D opening. c) 5 clubs are needed to raise a 1C opening. d) If opener rebids the minor suit, it shows suit strength greater than the minimum to open. e) Bidding at the 1 level is "up-the-line", showing lower suits first (without limits on point strength), and leaving room to return to the original suit at the 2 level if the opener's minor suit is strong. 2NT and 3NT are standard responses showing support of opener's suit and 13-15 and 16-17 points respectively. Opener chooses between 3NT, game in the suit, or a slam try.

Responses to 1NT Opening 2C is Stayman asking for opener to show a 4-card major; responder must have at least 8 points and 4 of at least one major suit (see responses below). Use of Stayman does not preclude the possibility of a strong minor suit. 2D and 2H are Jacoby Transfers to hearts and spades respectively, showing a strong suit in hearts or spades, but not both (see responses below). 2S shows a club or diamond bust, showing a long club or diamond hand without enough point support for game (see responses below). 2NT shows a balanced hand, invitational for game if opener has a strong hand. 3C and 3D show strength in a minor suit, invitational to game. 3H and 3S show a strong unbalanced hand with slam interest. 3NT shows a balanced hand without a major suit or enough points for slam. 4C is Gerber, initiating a Slam try with a strong, unbalanced hand (see Gerber below under "Slam Bidding"). 4NT is invitational to 6NT (not Blackwood). In rare cases, 6NT and 7NT show enough balanced strength to bid slam directly.

Responses to Stayman There are 3 standard responses: a) 2D shows a lack of a 4-card major. b) 2H shows 4+ hearts, or 4-4 in the majors. c) 2S shows 4+ spades. If responder rebids at the 2 level, it is invitational only. If responder bids a minor suit at the 3 level, it shows slam interest with at least 5 cards in the suit. If responder bids a major suit at the 3 level, it is forcing to game.

Responses to Jacoby Transfers 2H is the usual forced response to 2D. 2S is the usual forced response to 2H. Opener can transfer to the 3 level with 17 points and 4-card support. Responder can then either: a) pass. b) make an invitational bid of 2NT or 3 of the major suit. c) force game by bidding a second suit, allowing opener to choose. d) bid game directly with a 6-card suit.

Response to Club or Diamond "Bust" Response to 1NT Opener is required to bid 3C in response. Responder passes with a club bust, bids 3D with a diamond bust, which opener must pass.

Responses to 2NT Opening 3C is Stayman, similar to the 2C response to 1NT (see above). 3D and 3H are Jacoby Transfers, similar to the 2D and 2H responses to 1NT (see above). 4C is Gerber, initiating a Slam try with a strong, unbalanced hand (see Gerber below under "Slam Bidding"). 4NT is invitational to 6NT (not Blackwood). in rare cases, 6NT and 7NT show enough balanced strength to bid slam directly.

Responses to 3NT Opening 4C is Stayman (not Gerber), similar to the 2C response to 1NT (see above). 4D and 4H are Jacoby Transfers, similar to the 2D and 2H responses to 1NT (see above). 6NT and 7NT show enough strength to bid slam.

Strong 2C Opening and Responses 2C is an artificial opening that shows at least 22 points, with a strict minimum of 20 high card points. 2H, 2S, 3C, and 3D are natural suit responses showing at least 8 points and at least 5 cards in the suit. 2N is a natural response showing 8 high card points and a balanced hand. A 2D Response to 2C shows less than 8 points or an unbalanced hand without a strong suit.

Opener's Responses to a 2D Response to 2C 2NT shows 22-24 points, and responder's options are the same as if opener bid 2NT initially, i.e. Stayman, Jacoby transfers, Gerber, and a natural 4NT (not Blackwood) are the allowable responses, adjusted for a slightly higher point count (see above). 3NT shows 25+ balanced points. 2H, 2S, 3C, 3D are forcing bids showing an unbalanced hand with strength in the suit. Responder can suggest another suit, bid notrump, or jump to game (slam invitational) or raise in the suit (no slam interest).

Weak Two-Bid Openings and Responses 2D, 2H, and 2S are weak bids showing 6 cards in the suit (or 7 cards in a weak suit) and 5-11 high card points. Responses in a second suit show 12+ points and a strong 5+ card suit (6+ cards if bid at the 3 level), and are forcing bids. Opener rebids the opened suit with less than 9 points. Other responses are natural, showing at least 9 points. 2NT Responses to Weak Two-Bids are artificial, showing game interest with at least 15 points (see below). A raise bid in the opened suit is a preemptive non-forcing bid, showing support for the suit but weaker points (similar in effect to the Preemptive Openings, see below). 3NT is a direct game bid, showing a strong hand with stoppers in the unbid suits.

Responses to 2NT Responses to Weak Two-Bids With less than 9 points, opener rebids the opening suit. With 9+ points, opener bids a second suit at the 3 level to show an ace or king in that suit. Responder places the contract. With 9+ points and lacking a side ace or king, opener bids 3NT. Responder can then place the contract in a suit if desired.

Preemptive Openings With 7 or more cards in a suit, but without enough points to open at the 1 level, opener can bid at the 3 level, or even bid game directly. Because of the danger of a penalty, preemptive bids are sensitive to vulnerability. The less favorable the conditions, the more suit strength is required to make a preemptive bid. Without a very strong hand, or a very unbalanced hand in a better suit, responder should pass.

Slam Bidding 4NT Blackwood (often followed by 5NT Blackwood) is used for slam bidding in all cases except those covered by 4C Gerber. 4C Gerber (often followed by 5C Gerber) is used as a direct response to a 1NT or 2NT opening, and also as a response to the sequence 2C-2D-2NT. A 4NT response (rather than 4C Gerber) in each of these cases is natural (inviting 6NT), rather than 4NT Blackwood.

Responses to 4NT Blackwood In response to a 4NT Blackwood bid, the only responses are: a) 5C, showing 0 or 4 aces. b) 5D, showing 1 ace. c) 5H, showing 2 aces. d) 5S, showing 3 aces. To any of these responses, any response except 5NT Blackwood is to play.

Responses to 5NT Blackwood In response to a 5NT Blackwood bid (available only after 4NT Blackwood), the only responses are: a) 6C, showing 0 or 4 kings. b) 6D, showing 1 king. c) 6H, showing 2 kings. d) 6S, showing 3 kings. To any of these responses, any response is to play.

Responses to 4C Gerber In response to a 4C Gerber bid, the only responses are: a) 4D, showing 0 or 4 aces. b) 4H, showing 1 ace. c) 4S, showing 2 aces. d) 4NT, showing 3 aces. To any of these responses, any response except 5C Gerber is to play.

Responses to 5C Gerber In response to a 5C Gerber bid, the only responses are: a) 5D, showing 0 or 4 kings. b) 5H, showing 1 king. c) 5S, showing 2 kings. d) 5NT, showing 3 kings. To any of these responses, any response is to play.

Competitive Bidding Unless otherwise noted, competitive bidding sequences are natural, and mean approximately the same thing as in a non-competitive sequence. Some bids are "second choice" bids, and emphasis is on finding a major suit contract. Unless otherwise noted, conventional responses are not used if there is an intervening bid.

Overcalls Defensive overcalls show only 8-16 points if bid at the one-level. Jump overcall bids are preemptive (see above). A cuebid of opener's suit in response to an overcall is a forcing bid showing support for the suit and asking about the strength of the overcaller's hand. With a minimum overcall, the overcaller rebids the suit at the lowest level. A 1NT overcall shows a balanced hand with 15-18 points and a stopper in the opener's suit. 2C Stayman is used in response (see above), but other conventions are not used. A jump overcall of 2NT is an artificial Unusual 2NT bid showing 5+ cards in each of the 2 lower unbid suits. A cuebid overcall of a single suit bid is Michaels cuebid, showing 5+ cards in two suits. If in response to a minor suit open, the cuebid shows both major suits and 8+ points. If in response to a major suit open, the cuebid shows the other major, one of the minors, and 10+ points. In response to a major suit cuebid, 2NT asks for the overcaller to bid the minor suit.

Takeout Doubles With 17+ points, use a takeout double instead of an overcall. With less that 17 points, takeout doubles show opening strength and at least 3 cards in each of the unbid suits.

Balancing Bids In fourth seat after a bid and 2 passes, bids mean the same thing as regular opening bids, except that bids can be made with less points that usual (because a game contract is unlikely). A reopening bid of 1NT shows a balanced 10-15 points.

Competitive Sequences After 1NT In response to an overcall after 1NT, conventional responses are not used. Cuebids are used to show unbalanced 10+ point strength. In response to a double after 1NT, conventional responses remain in effect.

Competitive Responses to Takeout Doubles Bids at the 1 level are forcing bids, similar to usual responses to 1 bids, but with urgency about finding a suit. Bids at the 2 level in a new suit are limit bids showing 6-10 and 6+ cards in the suit. Redoubles show 10+ points without an appropriate suit bid. 2NT jump bids are limit bids, equivalent to a normal jump raise in the opener's suit. Jump bids at the 2 level are similar in strength to opening weak 2 bids (see above). Jump raises at the 3 level are preemptive (see above).

Other Competitive Sequences Limit bids (10-12 points and support for opener's suit) at the 3 level are still in effect against overcalls. Cuebidding the suit bid by an overcaller shows strength for game with support for opener's suit. Negative doubles are used over suit overcalls at the 1 and 2 levels, denying support for opener's suit and promising 4+ cards in any unbid major suit. If there is only one unbid major, a negative double promises exactly 4 cards. Cuebidding opponent's higher suit forces game (with support for opener's suit) in response to a Michaels cuebid or Unusual 2NT convention. A double in response to a Michaels cuebid or Unusual 2NT shows 11+ points. Raises in response to cuebids show less than 11 points but support in opener's suit. A bid in a major suit shows 5 or more cards in a competitive sequence.

Penalty Doubles Doubles are only used for penalty against game contracts. Conventional doubles can be passed for penalty if appropriate.

Defensive Leads Suit selection is based on standard practices such as favoring partner's overcall suit, playing from AK, playing a singleton, favoring long suits against notrump, etc. Defensive Leads within a suit against a suit contract are based on the following conventions: K from KQx Q from QJx J from JTx T from T9x J from KJTx T from KT9x T from QT9x 4th best card from 5+ cards Low card from xxx Low card from xxxx K from AKx High card from doubleton (including AK) Defensive Leads within a suit against a notrump contract are based on the following conventions: K from AKJx Q from AQJx J from AJT9 T from AT98 K from KQJx Q from KQT9 J from KJT9 T from KT98 Q from QJTx T from QT98 J from JT9x T from T98x 4th best card from 5+ cards Low card from xxx Low card from xxxx Defensive Signals Defensive Signals are not given or recognized in Hoyle Card Games.

See Also How to Play Bridge Actions in Bridge During a game of Bridge, you can perform a number of actions; these actions can be found in the Actions menu and are described below.

Current Standings Displays the scorecard for the current rubber. Click OK to close the window and return to the game or press Enter on your keyboard to close this dialog box.

Review Auction Opens the Auction dialog box for you to see how the auction for the current hand proceeded. Click OK or press Enter on your keyboard to close this dialog box.

Review Last Trick Displays the last trick taken in the current game, including who led and who won. Click Done or press Enter on your keyboard to close this dialog box.

End Replay Exits Replay Mode. This option is only available if you are replaying a hand in Replay Mode.

See Also How to Play Bridge Bridge Strategies and Tips The importance of learning to bid effectively cannot be overemphasized. A proper bid provides substantial information to your partner, as his or her response should to you. Unfortunately, you are also conveying the same information to your opponents, just as their bidding provides some guide to you as to how you should play your hand to make the bid or defend against your opponents' bid. Effective bidding of necessity is based on an understanding of what "points" are. The two kinds of points are high-card points and distribution points.

High card points Distribution points Ace = Four points Void in a suit = Three points King = Three points Singleton in a suit = Two points Queen = Two points Doubleton in a suit = One point Jack = One point In reaching your total points you cannot count both high-card points and distribution points for the same card. Take this example:

Here, you have a singleton king, normally worth three, but you cannot count three high-card points and two distribution points for the singleton. In this case the best value to assess would be the two distribution points. If your partner bids the suit in which you hold the king, then it would be proper to value it as a king (three points). It is also appropriate to "promote" any other high-card points in the suit bid by your partner one additional point; for example, if you also hold the jack in that suit it should be promoted to two points.

Opening Bids The opening bid is a team's first bid. The general rule in bridge is that if you have 13 points (combined high-card points and distribution points) and you want a happy partner, you should find a bid somewhere, even if it is in a four card minor suit. Opening bids are invariably on your longest suit. If suits are of equal length, bid the highest ranking suit. Generally if it is the first (opening) round and your hand has only 11-12 points (combined high-card and distribution points) and you do not have a fairly strong biddable suit (for example, five or six cards headed by at least two face cards and a singleton or doubleton in the other suits) then the appropriate bid would be a pass.

Response to Opening Bid If you're a beginner, keep it simple. If you have some strength in a suit your partner has bid, always raise. Strength can be defined as at least six points in your hand and three cards in your partner's suit, as in this example:

This hand contains six points (A, J, J) and at least the minimum three cards in spades, hearts, and diamonds. If your partner bid one club, however, your hand is too weak, and you should pass. Any suit of five or more cards is always biddable.

Bidding No-trump A bid of no-trump is best when you have 15 high-card points, and your hand's distribution is balanced, meaning a 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2 combination. You should also have all suits stopped, meaning you have the A, the K-Q, the Q-J-10, and/or the J-10-9-8 in each suit. These card combinations will prevent your opponents from taking a run of tricks in one suit. Most of the time, however, you'll have to make do with "probable" stoppers, such as K-x, Q-J-x, Q-10-x, or even Q-x-x. An example of a hand with stoppers is shown here:

Your 5-3-3-2 suit combination gives you a balanced hand. You have guaranteed stoppers in diamonds and clubs, and probable stoppers in spades and hearts.

Playing If you're the defender and you can't decide what to lead, here's an old bit of Bridge lore: when in doubt, lead the fourth-best card from your longest suit. This is called leading from length. It's considered the standard way to lead in a no-trump contract, and it's a safe way to proceed in a suit contract. Typically, an unbalanced hand is more suitable to play a trump contract. A balanced hand is good for a no-trump contract. Whenever a player has a balanced or an unbalanced hand, it is very common for more than one of the other hands to have a similar distribution, and it's something to plan for in the play of the hand. For example, let's say you have the following cards in diamonds:

If you are defending (your team lost the bid) and have a six-card suit as shown, even though it contains the ace, there is a good probability that the ace will be trumped on the first round. The preponderance of diamonds in your hand makes it more likely someone else has a void in diamonds. Likewise, if your hand is balanced, it is probable that other players also have balanced hands. The partnership playing a trump contract should be in command of the trump suit. Decades of Bridge experience have demonstrated that the partners playing the contract should have at least eight trumps between them (the best distributions are 5-3, 4-4, and even 6-2). The best lead is a card from a combination of top cards in any suit:

This example, described as KQJx, is very powerful in a no-trump hand (or when it's trump), and should win two or three tricks, despite the lack of the ace. When you're on defense, don't lead unsupported aces (an ace that has no king, queen, jack or 10 behind it) unless it's the suit your partner has bid. Suppose you have the following three hearts:

If it's your lead, you should only play the ace if your partner bid hearts. Otherwise, your opponents probably hold the other points and they will win a couple of tricks in this suit. On the other hand, a singleton ace can be an excellent lead if you have several cards in the suit that is trump. By playing the ace immediately, you create a void in your hand, increasing the power of your trump cards. Don't just count cards and points before you begin bidding—try to keep track of them as you play. The bidding, the opening lead, and the play will give you clues to the contents of your opponents' hands.

See Also How to Play Bridge Bridge Background Bridge is the Chess of card games (and with that statement we will enrage millions of devoted Bridge players, who would argue that Chess is the Bridge of board games). Chess has a long history, and, as befits a game of similar depth and complexity, so does Bridge. Bridge begins with a game called Whist, in a country called England, in an era called "The Restoration."

England's New Deal In the mid-1600s, the English fought two civil wars, dethroned their king, battled the Scots, the Irish, the Dutch, and the Spanish, dissolved the government when their leader died, and in 1660, restored the monarchy. The new king, Charles II, brought a generation of peace to his people. Playing cards had been in England for approximately 200 years by then, and while the first cards and card games came from the French, the English had begun creating their own games. They'd been playing a French trick-taking game called Triomphe since the 1500s and had molded it into something of their own. This transformed game was called Trump (a corruption of Triomphe), or Ruff-and-Honours. (Bridge players will note that all three terms, trump, ruff, and honors, are still used today.) When Charles II began his new job in 1660, Trump was being called Whisk. When he died, in 1685, Whisk was becoming Whist. The following features of Whisk/Whist have been retained by its many descendants: 1. Four players play in partnerships of two. 2. The object is to win tricks. 3. Players must follow suit if possible. 4. A trick is won by the highest card. 5. Any card in a trump suit beats any non-trump. (In Whist, the last card dealt is turned up; that card's suit becomes the trump suit. It's in the matter of determining trumps that Whist's offspring have found enormous room to evolve.)

What's a "Whisk"? It's easy to see how a name such as Triomphe could be shortened to Trump, but it's impossible to decipher the means by which Trump became Whist. Catherine Perry Hargrave, in her A History of Playing Cards, tracked Whist to the expression "Hist, be still!" Whist was supposed to be played in complete silence; you'll recall that in 1495 Henry VII had forbidden the lower orders from playing card games (except at Christmas), so if you wanted to play cards in your master's house the rest of the year, you had better be quiet about it. When Whist was taken up by the card playing gentry in the 17th century, they took silence to be a prerequisite for heavy-duty thinking; ironically, it was really a survival tactic of the poor and powerless. "Hist, be still!" could easily be compacted into Whist-with-a-t, but we know Whisk-with-a-k came first, "which leaves one just as puzzled," Hargrave wrote.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas It was during the Restoration that the Gamester books debuted, and, in them, we can chart Whist's acceptance by a war-weary populace. "Every child almost of 8 years old hath a competent knowledge in that recreation," Charles Cotton wrote of Whist in the first book in the series, The Compleat Gamester (1674). Eighty years later, Richard Seymour, author of The Court Gamester for the Use of Young Princesses, wrote that Whist "is said to be a very ancient game among us, and the foundation of all English games upon cards." When Cotton began writing the Gamesters, Whist was "as sure a sign of Christmas as frosts and Yule logs," in Hargrave's words. By the time Seymour took over, Whist was a game for every season and everyone, from the unfortunates who swept out the stables to the lord of the manor. Whist also became one of the few, if not the only, English games adopted by the French. The 18th-century philosopher Voltaire was an ardent fan of the game, as was Napoleon.

Rampaging Whist-eria Whist's ascent to world domination began in the 1720s, when a certain Lord Folkestone and his high-born friends took an interest in it. They began to explore Whist's intellectual depths and were astonished to find them deep indeed. Folkestone and his circle met at a coffeehouse in London, where they conducted the first systematic study ever undertaken of a card game. They then issued the following guidelines to good play: 1. Play from a straight (i.e., your longest and strongest) suit. 2. Study your partner's hand as well as your own. ("Study" as in "deduce what you can.") 3. Never force your partner unnecessarily. 4. Pay attention to the score. In 1742, Edmond Hoyle published his Whist book, which became an instant bestseller. The worldwide stampede to the Whist table had begun. (Hoyle's adventures in the book trade are given in detail in One Thousand Years of Playing Cards.) The exploration of Whist reached its peak in the mid-1800s with a final blast of books, including William Pole's The Philosophy of Whist: An Essay on the Scientific and Intellectual Aspects of the Modern Game.

Whist's Contribution to Lunch Whist continues to be played today, though compared to Bridge it's barely a blip on the radar screen of recreation. However, Whist players can take pride not only in their game's having given birth to Bridge, but for the impact it's had on international cuisine. John Montagu was a British statesman of the 18th century. When he wasn't wielding political power, Montagu was busy being a bad boy of the upper classes. He once spent 24 hours straight playing Whist. During that session, hunger drove him to create a meal from whatever was available. His creation was convenient, portable, and tasty, and soon people all over England were copying him. As the popularity of the new item grew, it was given the name of its creator—John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Biritch: From Russian with Love? The first published report on Khedive, a new card game from the East, appeared in Europe in 1877. The game was believed to have originated in Turkey; it was also popular in Greece and Egypt. Khedive, for unexplained reasons, became Biritch or Russian Whist when it entered France. Khedive is a French translation of a Turkish word for a ruler of Egypt, which was then a province of the Ottoman Empire. And yet, when this game with the French name hit France, it was introduced as a Russian game with a Russian name, Biritch. (Biritch means "town crier" or "herald" in Russian, which is completely unenlightening.) To further complicate the matter, Biritch (or Khedive) grafted onto Whist an interesting feature from a real Russian game, Vint: instead of turning up the last card of the deal to determine the trump suit, the dealer was free to name as trumps any suit he or she preferred. Bridge was born.

Whist-Bridge: "Bridging Over" By the end of the 1880s, Biritch not only had a new name, Bridge, it had new features as well. These new features started Bridge on the road to card-game supremacy (and sent Whist packing): 1. If the dealer chooses not to call trumps, he or she can "bridge" that decision over to his or her partner. 2. A hand may be played without a trump suit. 3. Following the naming of the trump suit (or the decision to proceed without trumps), the dealer's partner becomes the dummy. The partner's hand is set out face-up and is played by the dealer. Perhaps Biritch became Bridge because the English word made sense in connection with the game (and because of the similarity in sound). A rival theory claims that this early form of Bridge was popularized at a posh club in Bridgetown, Barbados, in the early 1890s, and the name comes from the city's name. This theory is intriguing but lacks supporting evidence. Games similar to Bridge were being played late in the 1800s in Denmark, Turkey, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Sweden, and the U.S. (where it was called Siberia, perhaps because American players still thought the game was of Russian origin). Whist players were scandalized by the introduction of Bridge in their clubs. Henry Jones, a 19th-century card authority who wrote under the pseudonym "Cavendish," declared, "It is disgusting to find that the Temple of Whist had been thus desecrated." But once-loyal Whist fans were soon flocking to the new Temple of Bridge, and even Jones eventually recanted. Before his death in 1899, he wrote there was "no game of cards in the world wherein skill, sound judgment, and insight into the adversary's methods will meet with more certain reward than they will in Bridge." When Auction Bridge came along, Bridge was rechristened Bridge-Whist.

Auction Bridge: The Game Before the Game Auction Bridge most probably began in a lonely outpost of the British empire called Allahabad—a town in India where the local Brits apparently had nothing else to do except invent new card games. One of these gentlemen, Francis Roe, had the thought of bidding for the trump suit (or electing no trump) "as at an auction." In the tradition of Edmond Hoyle, he presented his ideas in a treatise called The Bridge Manual (1899) under the unimaginative pseudonym of John Doe. Auction Bridge introduced the idea of playing two games for the price of one: first the auction, a session of competitive bidding to determine trumps, then the actual play of the cards themselves. Auction Bridge also incorporated the concepts of undertricks (tricks you need to make your bid) and overtricks (bonus tricks that don't count toward making your bid).

Contract Bridge: The New Leader of the Pack Unlike most card games, the invention of Contract Bridge can be traced with absolute certainty to a person, a place, and a date. The person in question was Harold S. "Mike" Vanderbilt, heir to the Vanderbilt fortune, yachtsman, and dedicated card player. Vanderbilt had moved with the times from Whist to Biritch to Bridge-Whist, then to Auction Bridge. Auction Bridge, he felt, had too many drawbacks. He particularly disliked how you could rack up points for tricks you'd won but had never bid on. Vanderbilt had played a French game called Plafond ("ceiling"), in which only the tricks you'd bid on counted toward winning the game, and this mechanism was much more to his liking. In November 1925, Vanderbilt and three like-minded friends boarded a cruise ship for a 10-day jaunt from California to Havana via the Panama Canal. By the time they disembarked in Cuba, the voyagers had hammered out, under Vanderbilt's guidance, the basic framework of Contract Bridge. Vanderbilt reviewed some of his thinking in an essay in The Fireside Book of Cards: "My scoring table provided at the outset for lower penalties for a side that had not won a game, to enable it to 'fly the flag' at not too great a cost and to add variety, singularly lacking in Auction, to the new game...We were at a loss for a word to describe a side that is subject to higher penalties. A young lady we met on board—none of us can recall her name—who had played some strange game in California that called for higher penalties under certain conditions, gave us the word used in that game, and 'vulnerable'—what a perfect description—it has been ever since." Contract Bridge ("Contract" was needed in the 1920s when people were still playing Auction; today's Contract Bridge is by far the dominant form, and is simply called "Bridge") placed great weight on accurate bidding, meaning a new emphasis on strategic thinking. Now, instead of scrambling to take every possible trick, you played to make or break a contract. (In sports terms, the partnership that wins the contract is on offense; the partnership trying to sink that contract is on defense.) In addition, your bidding during the auction round gives your partner valuable data, and you in turn must deduce what you can from your partner's bidding and from that of the opposition. "The complexity of Bridge lies less in the play than in the use of bidding systems to convey information," David Parlett wrote in A History of Card Games. "The most distinctive feature of modern Contract Bridge is that half the game is over before the first cards have been played." Harold Vanderbilt was by no means modest ("Like the flu, the new game spread by itself, despite the attempts of the old Auction addicts—too old to change—to devise a vaccine to stop it"), but it's not easy being modest when the entertainment you've invented is being played today by millions of people!

Bridge Versus Whist: Clash of the Titans Let's sum up the bidding by comparing the new and old games:

Bridge Whist Bid to name trumps trumps determined by chance Can play without trumps always a trump suit Must win the tricks you contract for must win a majority of tricks Only contracted tricks count everything counts Extra tricks and bonuses tallied separately everything counts Suits are ranked* all suits are created equal Use of "dummy" hand everyone plays own cards Team that's winning is "vulnerable" rewards/penalties stay the same Somewhere in the journey from Whist to Bridge, the four suits fell into a hierarchy: first spades, then hearts, then diamonds, then clubs. How this came about is unknown, but it's interesting to note the order of the suits and the groups those suits represented in the medieval French scheme: Spades Knights Hearts Clergymen Diamonds Peasants Clubs Farmers Murder, Mayhem, and Contract Bridge The quips just keep on coming in Jack Olsen's The Mad World of Bridge (1960). Bridge is "not so much a game as it is a psychosis." "In the 1930s, America's Bridge players spent an estimated $5 million a year on Bridge instruction, or roughly enough money to pay for 500,000 hours of psychotherapy." But when Olsen wrote of Whist, "Take this simple game, add a dummy, the concept of no-trump, bidding, and an occasional felonious assault, and you have Contract Bridge," there was a smidgen of truth behind it. In a chapter called "Murder at the Bridge Table," Olsen detailed the many documented accounts of felonious assaults at Bridge tables all over America in the '20s and '30s. Most of these accounts are of husbands and wives bashing each other after particularly tragic misplays. ("Nothing spectacular. Just a typical evening of Bridge as it is played in many homes.") But there were also a number of deaths (and critics claim that television causes violence!). The most infamous case occurred in 1929 in Kansas City when Myrtle Bennett accidentally shot her husband, John, following an argument over a Bridge game. The Bennetts were entertaining their neighbors, the Hoffmans, when the game took a turn for the worse. John misplayed the hand, leading Myrtle to remark on his apparent lack of intelligence. John slapped her, then announced he was leaving. He went to their bedroom to pack. The Hoffmans tried to calm the Bennetts down, but Myrtle and John continued to argue and eventually Myrtle pulled a gun. John ran into the bathroom to hide, but as he was closing the door, Myrtle fired twice. The bullets ripped through the door, mortally wounding John. Ely Culbertson, the first great popularizer of Contract Bridge, called the affair "a lesson in the importance of precise bidding valuation." Myrtle Bennett was eventually acquitted, and the hand that led to the shooting was eventually published in newspapers nationwide, along with commentary from Bridge experts. Culbertson contributed an analysis called "How Bennett Could Have Saved His Life." After the hubbub had died down, it was discovered that the newspapers had been hoaxed. The published hand was a fraud. Neither the Hoffmans nor Myrtle Bennett could remember a single card that had been played that night. There's a lesson in this. How to Play Canasta Rules Gameplay Canasta uses two regular decks of cards, including the jokers (two from each deck). Each player is dealt eleven cards. Players across from each other are partners and play cards to a common area, so each partner can take advantage of the other's play. Canasta is usually played over several hands; the first team to reach 5000 points wins. Jokers and twos are wild cards and can be used to represent other cards. Black and red threes have special properties.

Rules Summary On your turn, you either draw a card from the draw pile or take the entire discard pile (there are special rules for picking up the discard pile). You can then play melds and canastas. At the end of your turn, you must discard a card to the discard pile. Either you or your partner must make an initial meld for your team. Once your team has made its initial meld, both of you can play as many melds and canastas as you want on your turns. If your team has made at least one canasta, either you or your partner can go out if you can play all the cards in your hand.

Making Melds and Canastas Teams score points by making melds and canastas. A meld is three or more cards of the same rank such as 4-4-4, 6-6-6-6-6, or Q-Q-Q-Q-Q. Wild cards (twos and jokers) can substitute for any card, if needed (the only exception is a meld of black threes, which can't include any wild cards). For instance, you could have a meld of 4-4-2. A meld must contain at least two natural cards, and cannot contain more than three wild cards. Black threes can only be melded as your very last play of a hand before going out. A canasta is a meld which has seven or more cards of the same rank such as 8-8-8-8-8-8-8. Your team must make at least one canasta to win a hand. A canasta can contain up to three wild cards. If the canasta contains only natural cards, it is worth more points. If you make an illegal meld, such as 9-2-2, and then attempt to discard, you will get a warning message that you have an illegal meld. You must either add to the meld to make it legal, or click Undo and restart your turn.

Making the Initial Meld The first play your team must make to the table is your initial meld. Either you or your partner must play to the table, in one turn, one or more melds whose point value is equal to or greater than the initial meld value. Your initial meld value (50, 90, 120, or 150) for the current hand is shown under your score in the upper left corner of the screen. If your team hasn't yet made the initial meld, it is shown with a 0 in front of it. As you attempt to make your meld, the points you get are counted in this area.

You can also figure out the meld value by adding up the point values of any cards that you meld. To learn how much cards are worth, click here: Click here for an example of an initial meld: Once either you or your partner has made the initial meld, both of you can play other melds (and canastas) to the table.

Picking up the Discard Pile At the beginning of your turn, you can pick up the entire discard pile in certain situations (instead of drawing a card from the draw pile). To pick up the discard pile, you must be able to immediately use the upcard (the top card of the pile) in a meld (either adding it to an existing meld or making a new meld with it using cards already in your hand). You do not get to take the other cards in the pile until you use the upcard in a meld. Normally, you can pick up the discard pile if you can use the upcard in an existing meld or use the upcard in a new meld; to use the upcard in a new meld you must combine it with at least two natural cards from your hand or with at least one natural card and one wild card from your hand. However, if someone has discarded a two, or joker to the pile, the pile is frozen. When the discard pile is frozen, you can only pick it up if you can use the upcard in a meld using at least two natural cards in your hand. In order to pick up a frozen discard pile when you have not yet made your initial meld, you must also be able to play your initial meld using only the cards in your hand and the top card of the discard pile. Click here for an example: A pile stays frozen until someone picks it up. Important: Before your team has made your initial meld, the pile is not shown as frozen, but you can only pick it up with two natural cards. You can never pick up a pile if the top card is a joker, two, or black three.

Going Out Your team is qualified to go out (ending the current hand) if you have at least one canasta on the table. To go out, either you or your partner must play all of the cards in your hand to the table. The last card in your hand can either be melded or discarded; this is the only time in the game you are not required to discard at the end of your turn. When you are ready to go out, you may, if you wish, ask your partner permission to go out. This gives you a way to find out whether your partner wants you to go out, or whether your partner still has a lot of points in his or her hand (that might be used to make canastas) and wants to continue to play. Asking for permission is optional, but your partner's answer is binding; you can only go out on that turn if your partner gives you permission. Note: It is possible to go out without previously having placed any melds on the table. This is known as going out concealed and is worth extra points. You must be able to immediately play all of the cards in your hand to the table, making your initial meld and at least one canasta. You can discard one card to the discard pile if necessary. Going out concealed is very difficult to do, because you don't get any help from your partner.

Gameplay Rules At the beginning of the game, one card is flipped to the discard pile. If that card is a two, joker, or red three, another card is flipped on top of it and the pile is frozen. Before play begins, any red threes in players' hands are automatically played to the 3 pile on the board and replaced with new cards.

Playing the Game 1 On your turn, click the draw pile to draw a card, or click the discard pile to pick up the pile, if you can. Click here for rules on picking up the discard pile: If you pick up the discard pile, the top card of the pile is automatically played to the appropriate card pile. If the pile was frozen, you must then also play two natural cards to that pile; if you don't, you won't be able to take the pile. 2 Meld cards to the table, if you want to. (The first play your team can make is the initial meld.) To make a meld, drag each card to the appropriate meld pile (use the upper left corner of the card to point to the pile you want) or right-click a card to play it automatically. To play wild cards, you must drag cards to the appropriate pile, since you need to specify which pile you want to put them on.

Click the Undo All button if you do something wrong; it will undo as much of your turn as possible (including any melds you have made). It will not undo drawing a card from the draw pile, and it will not undo taking the entire discard pile (if there is more than one card in that pile). 3 Discard a card by dragging it to the discard pile. Important: You must always keep at least one card in your hand at the end of a turn, unless you are going out. 4 Play proceeds with the player on your left. Continue playing until one team goes out or the deck runs out. If you're ready to go out, you can go out by laying down all your cards (one card can be discarded, if desired.) If you wish, you can ask your partner for permission before you go out. You do this by clicking the May I Go Out button after you draw cards but before you play them. Note: if the May I Go Out button is not shown after you have drawn, you are not yet qualified to go out, perhaps because you do not have a canasta, or because you cannot play all your cards by melding and discarding. If a player draws the last card in the deck, special conditions apply. If the next player cannot take the discard pile, the hand ends immediately. However, if that player can play the top card of the discard pile to one of his or her team's melds, the player must take the discard pile and play that card. If the player can take the discard pile with a card in his or her hand, he or she can choose to either take the pile or click the End Hand button. In any of these cases, the hand ends, and neither team gets points for going out. 5 Each team scores points; see Canasta Scoring for information. If either team gets 5000 or more points, the game ends; otherwise, a new hand is dealt.

Note The meld piles show you how many cards are in them. To see which cards are in one of the meld piles, click on the pile and hold down the mouse.

Game Options You have the option of setting the game difficulty. To change this option, click Canasta Settings on the Options menu. For help on this option, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Canasta Strategies and Tips Canasta Background Canasta Scoring Each card you play to the table is worth a certain number of points. These points count towards your initial meld requirement, and are scored at the end of the game. (Note: Any red threes on the table don't count towards the initial meld points.) Scoring occurs at the end of a hand, after one team has gone out, or the deck runs out of cards and someone ends the hand. The team that went out gets points for going out, and each team scores points for all the cards they've melded to the table (including the cards in canastas) and any bonus points (points for any red threes and any mixed or natural canastas). Then, any cards remaining in team members' hands (including the partner of the person who went out) are subtracted from each team's score.

Card Values 4, 5, 6, 7, and black 3 5 points 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K 10 points A and 2 20 points Joker 50 points Red 3 100 points each (800 if your team has all 4 red threes) Other Scoring Mixed Canasta 300 points each Natural Canasta (all natural cards) 500 points each Going out 100 points Going out concealed* 200 points Going out before the other team has melded The other team loses 100 points per red 3 owned by that team, or 800 points if that team owns all four red 3s. * Going out w ithout having made an initial meld on a previous turn.

Note Additional cards added to a Canasta (beyond the first seven cards) do not give you any points beyond the normal point value for those cards.

Back to… How to Play Canasta Canasta Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Canasta game.

General Strategy The main reason for making melds is to work with your partner to make canastas. Canastas are worth a lot more points, so focus on making them instead of a number of small melds. Be careful not to meld too many cards. Having a small hand is a big disadvantage, because you are less likely to be able to pick up the discard pile. However, if your partner has already laid down a meld, it is usually a good idea to play any cards you can to it, so that you can get closer to having a canasta. If you can make a canasta, you should always do it! Except when making the initial meld and taking the discard pile, avoid adding wild cards to piles (unless you want to finish a canasta). Wild cards are stronger in your hand, since they can be used to make canastas and freeze the pile. If you have more than three cards you can meld, try just melding three of the cards, holding the others back. This gives your partner a chance to play cards to that meld, but leaves cards in your hand that can potentially pick up the discard pile. It also may let you make a surprise canasta! Keep track of the discarded cards! If the other team takes the pile, you will want to remember what cards were in it so you can discard safely. Keeping track of discards also gives you an indication which cards the other team are short of. If you have no choice but to discard a card that lets the other team take the discard pile, stick to low cards (4, 5, 6, 7) whenever possible, since these give the other team less points, and leave more points in your hand for melds.

Taking the Discard Pile A key strategy to Canasta is getting the discard pile and preventing your opponents from getting it, whenever possible. But consider how many cards are in the pile! It is often not worth showing the other team what cards you want by taking a small pile with four or less cards. Black threes are valuable discards, since they protect the discard pile. Hold on to them until the discard pile is large or something you particularly want to defend. When the discard pile is not frozen and is full of cards the other team wants, try making safe discards, such as cards that your team already has a large meld of (since you know the other team probably can't meld them). Or discard cards you've already seen the other team discard, or discards they have passed up before. If the other team has more melds on the table, consider freezing the discard pile, so that you can safely discard cards that your opponents have large melds of. If the discard pile gets really big, restrain yourself from melding, so that you have more chances to get the pile. If you're holding cards that the opponents can meld (and you can't), try to discard them when the discard pile is frozen, or when it is small.

Going Out If you're in a weak position--the other team has melded most of the card ranks, so there are no safe discards, for example--consider going out to minimize your losses. Asking your partner to go out is sometimes a good way to find out whether your partner can make more canastas. But don't forget that your partner's answer is binding! If you ask your partner to go out and your partner tells you no, play as many naturals on your turn as possible, holding on to wild cards and at least one safe discard. This gives your partner more opportunities to play cards and make canastas. Holding on to the wild cards means that you are more likely to be able to go out next turn. If your partner asks you to go out, and you say no (because you have cards left to play), be sure to play as many wild cards as you can on your next turn, and any natural cards that you can use to make canastas (or large melds which your partner could potentially make into canastas). Be sure to keep one card that you can discard safely on your next turn (so that the player to your left can't go out before your partner)! If all other things are equal, and the other team has three red 3s and the fourth red 3 hasn't been drawn, consider going out as soon as possible. If that team gets the last red 3, they'll get 500 more points! Likewise, if your team has three red 3s, and the fourth red 3 hasn't been drawn, consider postponing going out until you get that last red 3.

See Also How to Play Canasta

Canasta Glossary Items On a pile, the run number shows you how many cards are in the pile, and the w number shows you how many of those cards are wild cards. So in the pile above there are three sevens and one wild card (four cards total). The different colors of the piles indicate what mix of cards they contain. Pile Meaning

A meld containing natural cards and wild cards.

A meld containing all natural cards (no wild cards).

A "mixed" canasta containing natural cards and wild cards.

A "natural" canasta containing all natural cards (no wild cards). A card that can be used in place of other cards. In Canasta, twos and jokers are wild and can be used in place of natural cards in melds and canastas. A card of the desired rank, as opposed to a wild card. If the discard pile is frozen, the pile can only be picked up if you have in your hand two natural (non-wild) cards of the same rank as the top card of the discard pile. In the example below, you can't pick up the discard pile, even though you already have a meld of kings, because you don't have any kings in your hand. You need at least two kings in your hand to pick up the pile. Initial Meld Value Your game score at the end of a hand dictates how many points you need for the initial meld in the next hand. At the beginning of a game, both teams always have an initial meld requirement of 50.

Score Meld Requirement 0-1495 50 1501-2995 90 3000 or more 120 Negative score 15

This system gives the losing team a better chance of a comeback, since they can potentially play to the table earlier and "go out" earlier. A team with 1600 points must make an initial meld of 90, while the second-place team, with a score of 1250 points, only needs an initial meld of 50. Initial Meld Example Your hand:

If your initial meld requirement is 50, you can make two different initial melds with this hand. Meld the four queens (4x10=40) and OR Meld the four queens (4x10=40) and the three sevens (3x5=15) the two (worth 20) for a total of 55. for a total of 60. Meld Examples

Canasta Examples

Canasta Background Canasta is a variant of rummy, the origins of which are discussed in the Gin Rummy section. The name Canasta means "basket" in Spanish, which probably derived from the basket holding the draw and discard piles; the discard pile is of paramount importance in this game. Canasta was originally invented in Uruguay in the late 1940s, and soon became popular in Argentina and the rest of Latin America. In the late 1940s/early 1950s, Canasta reached the United States, where it became even more popular than Bridge for a few years; it was probably the most popular card game at any one time. It has since greatly declined in popularity, except for some holdout enthusiasts. How did Canasta get so popular? It may have been because it has elements of Mah Jongg, another enormously successful game, and as a partnership game, it is easier to learn than Bridge. (Canasta can be played with two, three, or five people, but the most popular version worldwide is the partnership game.) Derivations of Canasta include Bolivia, Samba, Cuban Canasta and Bolivian Canasta. How to Play War War is a quick and easy game usually played between two players. You can play War against a computer player or a human player. For help on adding and changing players, click here: In War, a standard deck of cards is split between two players, who each play one card at a time to the middle. The player with the higher card takes both cards. Aces are high. If the cards are the same, there is a "war," each player plays three cards face down ("W-A-R") and a fourth face up ("spells War!").The player who plays the higher face-up card wins all the cards in the war, unless the two cards again form a pair--in that case, you must have another war. (A player with insufficient cards remaining to fill out this procedure puts down as many cards as he or she has left.) The object of the game is to win all the cards or a certain number of wars, depending on your game options.

Playing the Game 1 Click your deck to flip a card (or press the spacebar). The player whose card is higher (suits don't matter) wins both cards and places them at the bottom of his or her pack. If the cards are the same, there is a war. Three cards are placed face down, and you can click your deck again to place a fourth card face up (the war card). The player whose card is higher takes all of the cards, unless the two cards again form a pair--in that case, you must have another war. 2 Play continues until one player wins all the cards or a certain number of wars are won, depending on your game settings.

Notes If your game settings are set to end the game when a number of wars are won, the person who runs out of tanks loses. You have 3, 6, or 9 tanks, which are shown 3 at a time; destroyed tanks are replaced, if possible. The number shown on your player plaque under your name shows how many cards you have in your pile. You can also right-click the deck to flip a card.

Game Options You have the option of setting how the game ends (after 3, 6, or 9 wars, or when one player is out of cards) and whether the helicopter flies overhead after every war. To change these options, click War Settings on the Options menu. For help on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box. Glossary Items Trump A card, or the suit, which is especially privileged to win over cards of other suits. Some games, like hearts and spades, define the trump ahead of time, while in others, like Euchre and Pitch, the trump card is chosen by the players. How to Play Poker The variation of Poker played in Hoyle Card Games is 5-Card Draw. Each hand can start with eight players or less (if a player runs out of cash, or if you remove players before the deal); the minimum number of players is two, of course. No cards are wild. Players' hands consist of five cards dealt to each player, all face down. From these five cards, the player can choose to discard several cards (3 card maximum) and draw the same number of cards to replace them. (A player can also choose to stand pat, which means not drawing any cards.) A player wins by having the highest-ranking hand of five cards.

General Poker Concepts The object of the game is to put together a better poker hand than the other players. The players bet to see who has the best hand. Each deal is a separate game; the result of each deal has no effect on any other deal. All the bets are placed together, forming a pot. The object is to win the pot, either by holding the best hand after the betting is finished, or by inducing all the other players to fold (drop out). The deal and the bet all pass clockwise from player to player. Once a player folds, they are no longer involved in any of the play for the remainder of that deal. To play, the cards are shuffled and dealt. There follows one or more betting intervals, culminating in a showdown at the end of the last betting interval, in which players who have not folded show what's in their hands. The highest-ranking hand wins the pot. In each betting interval, you can do one of four things: Fold Leave the hand. Call Place in the pot only enough chips to stay in play for that betting interval. Raise Place in the pot enough chips to call, plus additional chips. Check A "bet of nothing," only possible when no previous player has made a bet in that betting interval. Checking allows a player to stay in the pot without risking additional chips.

How Play Proceeds Each player adds his or her ante to the pot. Each player then receives five cards face down, followed by the first betting interval. The right to open passes to each player, starting with the player to the left of the dealer button. Players that stay in choose which (if any) of the five cards they want to discard (3 cards maximum). Note: to stand pat (not draw any cards), press the spacebar. The dealer then deals replacement cards to make each player's hand total five cards. The second (and final) betting interval takes place. After the final betting interval, all players that are still in show their cards. The player with the highest-ranking hand of five cards wins. If hands tie, the pot is split. In each betting interval, if more than two players are betting, there is a limit of three raises amongst all players. If only two players are in the game, there is no limit.

Playing the Game The type of game (25 hands, 50 hands, or win-it-all) and the pot amount is indicated on the table when the game begins. When you are ready to start play, click the Ante button. Each player adds his or her ante to the pot. Each player then receives five cards face down, followed by the first betting interval. The right to open passes to each player, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Players that stay in choose which (if any) of the five cards they want to discard (3 cards maximum). If nobody else has opened, you have the option to check, open, or fold. If another player has opened, you have the option to call, raise, or fold. Check A "bet of nothing," only possible when no previous player has made a bet in that betting interval. Checking allows a player to stay in the pot without risking additional chips. Open Place the first bet in the betting interval. Raise Place in the pot enough chips to call, plus additional chips. Call Place in the pot only enough chips to stay in play for that betting interval. Fold Drop out of the hand. If you choose to open or raise, the Betting dialog box appears--use it to choose the chip denominations for your bet. In a given betting interval, there is always a minimum and maximum bet. These values vary depending on how many players are left in the game, and what their average bankroll is. As the game gets down to just a few players who each have a lot of money, the stakes get higher. Also, the bet limits for the betting round after the draw are generally higher than the bet limits for the round before the draw.

Control/Option Description $1, $5, $25, $100, $500, $1000, $5,000, $25,000 Click on the chips you want to make up the current bet or raise amount. The bet must meet the minimum bet and not exceed the maximum bet. Click on a chip with the left mouse button to add it to the current bet. Click on a chip with the right mouse button to subtract it from the current bet. Bet/Raise Amount Indicates the current bet or raise amount. Bankroll Indicates your current available bankroll total. OK Accepts the current bet and starts the hand. Clear Clears the current bet amount.

Game Options You have the option of setting when the game ends: after you win all the money on the table (or lose it all), or after 25 or 50 hands. To change this option, click Poker Settings on the Options menu. For help on this option, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

Notes: You can quickly take any action in a dialog box by pressing the first letter of that action when the dialog box appears. Press A to Ante or S to Sit Out; press C to Check, O to Open or F to Fold; press C to Call, R to Raise, and F to Fold. You can also press the number of a chip to add that chip to your bet when opening or raising. If you like this poker game, you might enjoy Hoyle Casino, which has seven different poker variations: Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, Five Card Draw, and Five Card Draw Lowball. For more on Hoyle Casino, click the Sierra Web Site icon in your Hoyle Card Games program group.

See Also Poker Strategies and Tips Poker Background Ranks of Poker Hands These are the rankings of poker hands, from highest to lowest: Five of a kind Only possible with a wild card, and therefore not possible in Hoyle Card Games. Straight flush Five cards in suit and in sequence Four of a kind Four cards of any rank; one extra Full house Three of a Kind plus One Pair Flush Five cards of the same suit Straight Five cards in sequence Three of a kind Three cards of the same rank; two extra Two pairs One Pair and One Pair; one extra One pair Two cards of the same rank; three extras High card Any hand not meeting any of the above specs When two players have hands of the same type, the higher-ranking hand is determined as follows: If each player has a straight flush, a flush, a straight, or high card, the hand with the highest card wins. If each player has five of a kind, four of a Kind, or three of a kind, the hand composed of the highest-ranking matches wins. If each player has a full house, the full house with the highest-ranking three of a kind wins. For example, 4-4-4-2-2 beats 3-3-3-K-K, because the fours beat the threes. If each player has two pair, the highest pair wins. If each has the same higher pair, the hand with the higher of the two lower pairs wins. If each has the same two pairs, the hand with the highest fifth card wins. If all five cards in two or more players' hands are identical, they split the pot. Poker Strategies and Tips Some strategies and tips for Poker, specifically for Five Card Draw, are described below. Pay attention to how players are betting and the number of cards they're drawing. Learn which players are more likely than others to bluff and take chances and which ones are more likely to sit back until they're dealt a high-ranking hand. If a player draws three cards, the best he or she can have is a pair. If you want three as well, go ahead and discard three, but if you're in a gambling mood try taking just two. Even if you have no use for the third card, this ploy might fake out the other players and cause one or more to fold. If a player draws one card, he or she may be drawing for a straight or a flush, or may already have a good hand. Then again, it could all be a bluff! The real secret to Poker isn't making combinations, it's knowing how to bluff and how to tell when others are bluffing. If a player does not draw any cards (stands pat), it could be the biggest bluff of all time. Most likely, that player has a pretty hefty hand, and you'll need something really good to beat it. With eight players at the table, you will usually need a minimum of two pair to win. Never try to fill an inside straight! For example, if you're holding J-10-8-7-2, don't stay in on the chance that you can discard the 2 and pick up a 9. The chances aren't good. You are twice as likely to make a straight if you hold the J-10-9-8-x, because now you're looking for one of two cards: a queen or a 7.

Advanced Strategies The power of a particular Poker hand (e.g., three 5s) is determined in part by the number of opponents you face. On average, if you're one of four Poker players, you'll win one of four hands, and three 5s is a great hand. If you're one of seven players, you'll only win one of seven hands, and three 5s is only a good hand. In the default game, you're playing as one of eight. To win against such a large group, you'll need a pretty good hand to put the kibosh on all of them. More than likely, at least one of the others will have a high pair, two pair, or three of a kind. This fact makes it very hard to win by bluffing. Take a look at Figure 1. Your hand, an ace high, is pretty weak. In a seven-player game, you're not going to win unless you draw a pair (an ace or other card). You can always scare some people out by betting high, but chances are you'll just be losing money. Try to hold down the bet by checking.

Figure 1: Time to Check

However, if you do decide to bluff, try to do it when you're one of the last to bet. Otherwise, your bluff may be wasted against an opponent with a good hand who takes your bet and raises it. Figure 2 shows a different situation, in which a little bluffing is warranted. You may not win with your two kings, but it might be helpful to drive some competitors out. You can often do this by betting a little more.

Figure 2: Betting

Keep tabs on which player or players are doing the most betting. It will help you evaluate their hands when it's time to draw new cards.

DRAW 1 DRAW 3 FOLD DRAW 2 FOLD DRAW 3

Figure 3: Drawing Cards

Figure 3 shows what happens next in this hypothetical hand. Your best choice is clear—keep the two kings, and draw three more cards. The observant Poker player will watch the others with a keen eye. Two players fold and go out, as shown. One player draws one card. When a player draws one card, they most likely have two pair (a strong hand), or they might be going for a straight or a flush. The only tip-off for you that might indicate a two pair is whether they were betting heavily. With a strong hand, they probably raised the pot at least once. With a near-straight or a near-flush, they might have tried to keep the bets down by checking or calling. Two other players (like yourself) draw three cards. The best possible hand you can have when drawing three cards is one pair. Keep that in mind. One player draws two cards, a more difficult play to interpret. This player has three of a kind or is bluffing. You draw three cards, the result of which is shown in Figure 4. You fail to draw a third king. With fewer players, this might win you the hand. But with four opponents hanging in there, it would be unlikely. The best thing to do is to stay in with a minimal bet or fold.

Figure 4: After the Draw

If you are dealt a good opening hand (Figure 5), your strategy should change. In this case, with three 10s, consider a lower bet, perhaps raising it once. This is like "dangling a worm" in front of your opponents and trying to make them bite. If you bet too high, it's the equivalent of splashing in the water; you'll scare away the fish. After the second round of betting starts, you can afford to bet a little higher.

Figure 5: Betting With a Good Hand

If you start winning some hands and getting ahead, you have the option of betting higher. While risky, this is likely to drive a couple people out; they just can't afford to hang in unless they have a great hand. Fewer opponents, of course, will improve your odds of winning.

See Also How to Play Poker Poker Background Joseph Strutt was an 18th-century Englishman with a serious interest in fun. In 1801, he published the first book to investigate the origins of the games people play. Writing of a card game called Primero, he described it as the oldest card game in England. Strutt wasn't much on aesthetic judgments (in the same book he said that Dominoes "could have nothing but the novelty to recommend it to the notice of grown persons in this country"), but he'd done his homework on Primero. Shakespeare played it. So did Henry VIII, when he wasn't marrying or imprisoning his wives. And what they were playing in Primero was the forerunner of the game we call Poker. Primero (Primera in Spain; the English probably learned this game from the Spanish) was a three-card game (three cards were dealt to each player) that involved building cards into three kinds of hands, or combinations: three of a kind, pairs, and fluxes (our flush). Primero relied heavily on bluffing, and it attracted people who liked to gamble with cards. By the 1700s, Primero had become a five-card game and had spread across Europe. It was now called Brag in England, Pochen in Germany, and "Poque" in France. Each game followed its own rules, though each retained the concepts of building combinations and bluffing.

The Mississippi River, Mother of Poker In the 18th century, Poque came to North America with the French colonists in what is now Louisiana. When President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803, he couldn't have imagined he was buying America's national card game along with millions of acres of land. In 1803, only the French around New Orleans were playing Poque, which used a short pack of 20 cards. (We don't know which cards were discarded, as the specific rules for Poque have not come down to us; we do know that the flux or flush of Primera was not part of Poque.) By the time of Jefferson's death in 1826, Poque was being played aboard a new invention, the steamboat, that was turning the Mississippi into America's first superhighway. By 1829 (60 years after the death of Edmond Hoyle), Americans had transformed Poque's name to Poker and expanded its deck to the full 52 cards. Poker grew strong on the Mississippi, then rapidly moved west and east. What accounts for Poker's quick acceptance in America? Aside from the intrinsic qualities of the game, the prime reason might lie with the glamour of the American West. Americans have always romanticized the frontier; it's no accident that Westerns are a major genre in movies, literature, and television. The frontier, people believed, was a place where you could reinvent yourself on a larger and more successful scale, a place where you could live life more intensely than in Boston, Philadelphia, or Savannah. Everything Western has, at one time or another, been imitated elsewhere in the country. If you couldn't ride a buckin' bronc or attend a necktie party in the ever-so-refined East, you could always play Poker.

Face-down Versus Face-up Poque was first called Straight Poker or Cold Poker. All cards were dealt face-down, and there was only one round of betting. Then the Americans went to work on it. By 1865, the end of the Civil War, they'd developed two forms: closed (all cards dealt face-down) and open (some cards face-down, the rest face-up). Draw Poker, which came first, is a closed game. Draw introduced the notions of drawing cards from the stock to improve your hand and a second round of betting. Stud Poker is an open game. Stud introduced hole cards, upcards, and many more rounds of betting. Poker was wildly attractive to the average person, but not to the stuffy editors of 19th-century Hoyle books. The game doesn't appear in Hoyle until the 1880s. As late as 1897, a commentator (a Whist devotee, most likely) noted "The best clubs do not admit the game to their rooms." Though the Poker family is the second-most populous in all of card-dom (dwarfed only by Solitaire), all Poker variants have these traits in common: 1. Players try to build combinations based on the same rank, the same suit, or a numerical sequence. 2. All variations use a 52-card deck (not counting jokers). 3. All suits are of equal value. 4. The cards rank from the ace down to the 2. The ace can be considered low to form a straight, but a straight can't "turn a corner" (for example, K-A-1-2-3). 5. Each deal is a game-within-a-game. 6. Each deal features a pot, consisting of the total of the ante (the "entry fee") and all subsequent bets. 7. There's at least one round of betting. 8. The "best" hand wins the pot (the best can sometimes be the worst). 9. The object of Poker has never changed. In the words of David Parlett, it's to "bluff your opponents into thinking you hold the best combination whether you do or not, and then charge them for seeing it." How to Play Crazy Eights Crazy Eights can be played by two, three, or four players. You can play against computer players or up to three other human players. For help on adding and changing players, click here: The game uses a 52-card deck with colors instead of suits and ones instead of aces. When two play, each player receives seven cards; when three or four play, each player receives five cards. The remainder of the deck is placed face down, and the top card is placed face-up beside the deck and becomes the starter. Players play cards to the starter pile that match the top card in the same color or rank. For example, if a blue 10 is on top, you can play the green, red, or yellow 10, or you could play any blue card. In Crazy Eights, eights are always wild. An eight may be played at any time, even if you could legally play another card. If you play an eight, you designate a color, and the next player must play a card of that color or another eight.

Playing the Game 1 On your turn, you can play a card to the starter pile: either drag the card from your hand to the starter pile, or right-click the card. You can play any card that matches the top card of the starter pile in color or rank, or you can play an eight. If you play an eight, you must select which color you want to change it to. 2 If you don't have a card that matches the top card, or if you choose not to play one of your cards, you must draw cards until you can play. You can choose not to play a card, if you like, even if you have one that could be played. For instance, you might have an eight that could be played, but want to save it to play later in the game. Or perhaps you want to change the suit to a suit that another player doesn't have--you could draw to try to get an eight, or a card with the same value as the current card but a different suit. 3 Once you've played to the starter pile, the turn passes to the next player. If you're playing the Very Crazy version of Crazy Eights, some cards you play affect other players. See Playing the Very Crazy Game below for more information. 3 When the deck is exhausted (out of cards), you must play a card if you can. If you can't play, the turn will pass to the next player. 4 Play ends when a player gets rid of his or her last card. If no one can play a legal card, the game ends in a block. If you're playing a non-scoring game, the player who gets rid of all of their cards first wins. If you're playing a scoring game, the player that goes out first collects points for all cards remaining in the hands of the opponents: 50 for each eight, 10 for each face card, and the regular value for the remaining cards. If the game ended in a block, no points are scored.

Playing the Very Crazy Game You can choose to play the Very Crazy version of Crazy Eights: click Crazy Eights Settings on the Options menu, and then click Very Crazy Eights under the Game Type. Very Crazy Eights is played exactly like Crazy Eights, above, except that several types of cards--2s, jacks, kings, and the red queen--all have special functions: Jack: Skips the next player's turn. King: Reverses the direction of play. 2: Makes the next player draw two cards or play a 2. If that player can play a 2, the next player must then draw four cards or play a 2, and so on. Red queen: Makes the next player draws five cards and skips their turn. Note: If any of these cards are the starter card (the first card turned over from the deck), it has no special effect.

Game Options You have the option of setting whether you're playing the normal game or the Very Crazy game, whether your cards are drawn manually or automatically, which scoring method to use, whether to reshuffle discarded cards, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Crazy Eights Settings on the Options menu. For help on the options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Crazy Eights Strategies and Tips Crazy Eights Background

Crazy Eights Strategies and Tips Unlike many of the classic American games, in Crazy Eights you want to "avoid a void," or you'll have to draw more cards from the stock. A balanced hand is best, so you'll generally want to play cards from your longest suit. In Figure 1, your best option is to transfer the suit to diamonds by playing the 10 of diamonds.

Figure 1: Playing Your Longest Suit

At the end of the game all cards remaining in the losers' hands are counted up and added to the victor's score. For this reason, play your higher cards whenever possible. Your 8s are the only exception. These cards are most useful at the end of the game, when you'll be running out of suits (and therefore options), so don't play them except to avoid drawing from the stock. If you do hang onto your 8s, you will also need to watch the other players. If someone gets down to their last card, make sure you play the 8 immediately to avoid giving away 50 points to the winner. The most devious tactic you can employ in Crazy Eights is to observe opponents who are down to their last few cards. Figure 2 shows an example of this. The 5 of diamonds is showing. After being forced to draw a card, the player on the right plays the new card immediately. By drawing, this player has revealed a void in diamonds. You play your 8 and change the suit to diamonds. This decision is designed to thwart your opponent, as it doesn't obviously benefit you. However, if you can force the leading player to draw several cards, you'll be more likely to win the game yourself. If you have a strong need to win, you can try counting cards in order to deduce what your opponents are holding when the stock is exhausted. If you think keeping track of 52 cards is hard, play a few hands of Bridge for practice.

Figure 2: Stopping a Win

See Also How to Play Crazy Eights Crazy Eights Background Crazy Eights is also known as Eights and as Swedish Rummy. How it gained a Swedish lineage is uncertain, but Crazy Eights is related to the Rummy family in that players try to rid themselves of their cards by making matches. However, Crazy Eights is classified as a Stops game—games in which players are stopped from discarding when they hit a gap in the sequence they're following. Like most games that look like child's play, Crazy Eights can be traced backward in time to an adult gambling game. The founder of the Stops family appears to be a 17th-century French pastime called Hoc. When Louis XIV took the throne in 1643, the French prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, faced two problems: a) Louis was five years old, and b) France was running out of money. Mazarin set up a special educational program for the little guy, then tackled the financial crunch by turning the palace into a round-the-clock casino, where 17th-century nobles with more wealth than they knew what to do with squandered it on Hoc. Hoc was played in three parts. In the third part, players tried to match all of their cards and be the first to "go out." Eventually, this third part was separated from the first two and became a game in its own right. When Halley's Comet appeared in 1682, the new game became Comet in France and England. All Stops games evolved from this point. In England, Comet was replaced in the 1700s by a new game, by Pope Joan (a Stops game that used a board, like Cribbage), then in the 1800s by Newmarket (named for a race track where the royals congregated). In America, Newmarket was known as Stops or Boodle. By 1920, this had become Michigan, which was America's favorite game of this type until World War II, when Crazy Eights became the vogue. (The principal difference between Crazy Eights and Michigan is that in Crazy Eights, you draw more cards from the stockpile when you lack the card to make a match.) How to Play Euchre Four people play in two partnerships (though the game has been adapted to accommodate as many as seven players). Euchre uses the standard 52-card pack, but with 28 cards removed (everything below the nine). Hoyle Card Games does not use the joker.

The Rank of Cards in Each Non-Trump Suit Ace (the highest), king, queen, jack, 10, 9 (the lowest).

The Rank of Cards in Trumps The jack of the trump suit (the right bower), followed by the jack of the same color (the left bower), followed by A-K-Q-10-9 of trump. For example, if hearts were trump, they would rank as follows: the jack of hearts, the jack of diamonds, and then the rest of the hearts. The trump suit always has seven cards; the next suit (same color as the trump suit) has five; and the "cross" suits (opposite color from the trump) each have six.

The Object of the Game The object is to win at least three tricks (of a possible five). If the side that called trumps fails this, it is euchred. The winning of all five tricks is called march. In the traditional scoring, the side that called trumps wins one point for making three or four tricks; for making five tricks or march, they score two points. For the person playing alone: for three or four tricks, one point; for march, four points. If the side that called trumps is euchred, their opponents win two points. Four-hand euchre is usually played for a game of five points.

Playing the Game Five cards are dealt to each player. The pack is placed face down with the top card turned face up. This card determines the trump suit for the deal. The first player may either pass or accept the turned-up card as trumps. If the first player passes, the next player faces the same decision, and so on. As soon as a player accepts the turned-up card as trumps, the dealer picks up the turned-up card. The dealer must then discard a card from their hand; this can be any card, including the trump card that was just picked up. If all players pass, the dealer removes the turned-up card. The first player then has the right to name the trump suit, or to pass. The suit of the rejected card cannot be named as trump. If a player passes, the next player can call the trump suit or pass, until the option reaches the dealer again. If all players pass a second time around, the cards are thrown in for a new deal (from the next dealer in line). However, if the "Stick the Dealer" option is checked in the Settings dialog box, and all players pass the second time around, the dealer is forced to choose a trump suit from the available suits. The player that declares the trump suit has the right to say, "I play alone." The partner of this lone wolf lays their cards face down and does not participate in the hand. In play, players must follow suit of whatever card is led (if able). If you're void in the suit that was led, you can play trump or any other card. The highest trump played wins the trick. If no trump is played, the highest card in the suit led wins the trick. The winner of the trick then leads the next card.

Playing Your Cards Click the card you want to play and drag it to its open spot on the table, and then drop it there. You can also right-click the card to automatically place it on the table.

Game Options You have the option of setting the number of points required to win, whether you can "stick" the dealer, how your cards are sorted, which player leads after a "play alone" bid, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Euchre Settings on the Options menu. For help on the options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Euchre Strategies and Tips Euchre Background

Euchre Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Euchre game: Don't be in a hurry to become the declarer and order up trump. While ordering up trump is a huge advantage, remember that if you can't take three tricks, your opponents gets two points (that's what you call a big troll lurking under the bridge). Euchre is supposed to be a fun game, right? Do you really want to sweat that hard for your third trick? If you only think you can take two tricks, consider passing. Give your opponents an opportunity to do the sweating instead. So when is your hand good enough to order up trump? Easy answers are a little scarce, but here's a couple of ideas: your partner will take one trick on average. That means you want an assurance of at least two tricks yourself—and three is better. Takers (winning cards) are aces and the higher trumps (Bowers, ace, king). Figure 1 shows an example of a good hand. Declaring trump will give this player two higher trumps (the Right Bower and the king) and one ace. This should be good enough for at least two tricks, maybe three. With three takers, don't hesitate to order up trump. It's a safe bet.

Figure 1: Example of a Good Hand

Be sure you have an unbeatable hand before opting to play alone. Otherwise, let your partner help you out. Your odds of gaining extra points (for winning five tricks) is much greater with a partner. For example, the player in Figure 2 has a great hand but is missing the Left Bower (jack of diamonds) and the ace of hearts. This gap could potentially cost the player one trick. However, if the player's partner has the other jack, he or she could still take everything.

Figure 2: Playing Alone

Three trumps of any rank form a very powerful hand. You can quickly force out all the highest trumps and subsequently win a couple of tricks. It's war when play begins. Fight for every trick as if your life depended on it. If you think you can take a trick, do so. Figure 3 shows a typical situation. Suppose in this example that you are First Hand (first player). You have two decent cards (an ace and a low trump), and three garbage cards. If you play the queen (your trump), she will certainly go down at the hands of a superior trump. Save it for later.

Figure 3: First Hand Options

If you play a garbage card, you will lose the trick and may never get the lead back. Your ace of hearts is the best option. It's like firing your derringer—you've only got one shot. If you play it now, you can force out all the hearts and (if you're not trumped) win the trick. In the Old West, the fastest gun was always the most feared. The first to trump will often win a given trick. Because there are only five cards in each player's hand, you won't have much time to void your suits, so absolutely do not pass up any early trumping opportunities.

Advanced Strategies When weighing trump, always keep in mind which player is the dealer. Figure 4 shows a situation in which jack of diamonds is upturned as the possible trump.

Figure 4: When to Order Up

You're holding the hand shown. If your partner is dealer, don't pass this opportunity to order it up. It will give him the Right Bower (jack of diamonds), give you the Left Bower (jack of hearts), along with a couple of trumps. It's a can't-fail proposition. You and your partner may even take five tricks. Consider how drastically this situation changes if your opponent on the left is dealer. If you order it up in this case, you may still take some tricks, but you won't take five. By giving up the Right Bower, you're also giving up at least one trick. Your kings and aces are better with a backer. A backer is a lower card of the same suit. Figure 5 shows a hand in which the 10 is backing up the ace. Hearts are trump. Figure 6 shows how this can come in handy. In this situation, the First Hand (player to the dealer's left) leads with the Right Bower, forcing out the Left Bower. The last player sacrifices the 10 and saves the ace of hearts for a later hand. Even the unreliable king is more likely to take a trick when backed up.

Figure 5: 10 Backing Ace Figure 6: Using a Backer

If your partner calls trump, play your Bowers right away (unless you'd be trumping your teammate's ace!). This will allow your partner to strategize better and possibly win all five tricks. As in other trick-taking games, always remember the highest unplayed card of each suit. In Figure 7, for example, suppose you know that both Bowers have already been played. Your partner led with a king. As you don't have any diamonds, you will have to play a trump. Should you play your king or 9? It is critical that you know whether the ace of trump is still unplayed. If the ace is still unplayed, you can consider playing the 9 and saving your king for the final trick.

Figure 7: The Highest Unplayed Card

See Also How to Play Euchre Euchre Background Euchre was once to the United States what Whist was to Great Britain. Merilyn Simonds Mohr estimates in The Games Treasury that by the country's centennial, two-thirds of all Americans knew how to play Euchre. Bridge eventually swept Whist aside, though, while Euchre still enjoys a loyal following. Euchre, which was written about as early as 1829 in connection with riverboat gambling on the Mississippi, is a trick-taking game with restrictions. These restrictions are the use of a short pack of 32 cards, and a hand of just five cards. It can be traced with fair certainty to two games. The first is the French game of Triomphe, which seems to have given birth to most of the trick-taking games we play today. The second is a game called Jucker or Juckerspiel, which developed in a region that has sometimes been French, sometimes German—Alsace, in northeastern France. Because of its French-German ancestry, Euchre slipped into the United States in two ways, through the French in Louisiana and through the Germans in Pennsylvania. The German influence is most evident in the word Bower. In modern Euchre, the highest card is the joker, also called the Best Bower; the second-highest is the jack of trumps, or the Right Bower; and the third-highest is the jack of the suit that's the same color as trumps, also known as the Left Bower. Bower, in this case, is not the English-language bower, which we use to mean a shady spot in a park or a garden. The Bower in Euchre is the English spelling of the German bauer or the Dutch boer, which in those languages means "farmer" or "jack." Euchre made the big time in 1863, when it was at last admitted to the pages of Hoyle.

The "Imperial Trump" The German influence on Euchre might also be present in the word joker, as this might be an Americanization of the German jucker. The joker is first mentioned in connection with Euchre in the book Euchre: How to Play It (1886). The first mention of the joker in Poker is a decade earlier—The American Hoyle (1875)—but it may be that Euchre was the game for which the joker was invented, not Poker. (Part of the confusion on this issue might have come from the simultaneous spread of both games northward on the Mississippi.) Euchre: How to Play It included a description of a game called Railway Euchre in which a 33rd card, "the Joker, or Imperial Trump," is used. But Catherine Perry Hargrave, in A History of Playing Cards, found even earlier jokers, from 1862 and 1865. The 1862 card has a tiger on it and the label "Highest Trump," while the one from 1865 is inscribed "This card takes either Bower" and "Imperial Bower, or Highest Trump Card." David Parlett confirmed Hargrave's discovery, noting in A History of Card Games that American playing-card manufacturers didn't start including a spare card in all their packs until the 1880s. "It was presumably only when [Jokers] were customary in full-length packs that Poker players started using them as wild cards." Incidentally, the joker we know as the court jester didn't assume that costume until the turn of the century. How to Play Gin Rummy Gin Rummy is played by two people with the standard 52-card pack. The cards in each suit rank from the king (the highest) down to the ace (the lowest). Each face card counts as 10, each ace counts as one, and the other cards are their regular values. Each player receives 10 cards in the deal. The first card always goes to the non-dealer. The rest of the pack is placed faced-down; this is the stock. The top card of the stock is turned up and placed beside the stock. This is the upcard. The non-dealer begins play by taking the first upcard or refusing it; if the non-dealer refuses the upcard, the option of taking it or refusing it passes to the dealer. If the dealer also refuses, the non-dealer draws the top card of the stock. From there, each player in turn draws a card, either the upcard or the top card of the stock, and then discards one card (the new upcard) face up on the previous discards.

The Object of the Game The object of all this taking and discarding is to form your hands into sets (three or four cards of the same rank) or sequences (three or more cards in sequence in the same suit). After drawing, and before discarding, a player may knock if his or her unmatched cards (deadwood) count 10 or less. The player who knocks lays down 10 cards, arranged in sets and with the unmatched cards segregated, then discards the eleventh card. If all 10 cards are in matched sets (a gin hand), the player's count is zero and he or she is said to go gin. If a player knocks, the opponent of the player who knocked may lay off any of his or her unmatched cards that fit on the knocker's matched sets, thereby reducing his or her own count of unmatched cards. If a player goes gin, the hand ends immediately, and the opponent is not allowed to lay off any cards. If neither player has knocked by the time the 50th card has been drawn (and a following discard made), there is no score for either player for that particular deal.

Scoring After knocking and laying off, if the knocker has the lower deadwood count, he or she wins the difference between the two players' deadwood counts. But if the opponent has an equal or lesser deadwood count, the opponent is said to have undercut the knocker. The opponent then scores the difference (if any) in the counts, plus an undercut bonus of 25 points. The knocker cannot be undercut if he or she has gin (no deadwood). A knocker with gin scores the opponent's deadwood count, plus a gin bonus of 25 points. The first player to accumulate 100 points wins the game and a 100-point game bonus. Players get a 25-point line bonus for each hand won in the game. The winner wins the difference in total scores for the game. If the loser did not win any hands in the game (a shutout), the winner's score for the game (except for the line bonus) is doubled. Here is an example of scoring a shutout, with Player 1 having scored 117 points in five games:

Player 1 Player 2 Points for All Hands 117 0 Game Bonus 100 0 Shutout Bonus 217 0 Line Bonus 125 0 Game Total 559 0

Multiple games are played until the match is won. See Settings to choose the match type.

Illegal Knocking If a player knocks when they have more than 10 points of deadwood, the other player has the option of ending the game, or continuing with the game having seen the opponent's cards. In Hoyle Card Games, computer players will never knock illegally. If a human player knocks illegally, the computer player will choose to end the game if they have undercut the human player, and continue the game if they have not undercut the human player.

Oklahoma Gin In Oklahoma Gin, you can only knock if your total deadwood count is equal to or less than the value of the initial upcard. Face cards count as 10 for this purpose, and if the initial upcard is an ace, there is no knocking; you must have gin to go out. Additionally, if the initial upcard is a spade in Oklahoma Gin, the winner's final point total is doubled.

Playing the Game 1 To start the game, you can take the upcard by clicking it, or click the Pass button to pass and let the other player choose to take it or pass. 2 On your turn, draw a card by clicking the deck, or click the upcard of the discard pile to take it. 3 Discard a card in your hand by dragging it to the discard pile or right-clicking it. 4 The hand ends when you or the other player knocks. If you're ready to knock, click the Knock button, and then discard a card. 5 The game ends after one player wins the match. How matches are won depends on your game settings. Game Options You have the option of setting your game type (Gin Rummy or Oklahoma Gin), how long a match is, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Gin Rummy Settings on the Options menu. For help on the options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

Note: To sort cards, press the SHIFT key to spread the cards apart, then drag cards where you want them to be. New cards are sorted automatically.

See Also Gin Rummy Strategies and Tips Gin Rummy Background Gin Rummy Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Gin Rummy game: As a general rule, draw from the discard pile only to complete or add to a set, not to form a combination (two cards that may become a set). Try to put together two matched sets plus four or fewer unmatched low cards (you usually don't have time to make three sets). Knock as soon as you can! You won't make Gin, but you're more likely to pick up a ton of points from your opponent's unmatched cards. Success in Gin Rummy depends largely on keeping track of the discards. From this you'll know which of your own combinations are still "alive" and you'll be able to guess which combinations your opponent is holding. According to leading Gin Rummy scientists, the most useful card in this game is the 7, as it figures in more combinations than any other card. The least useful are the ace and king. As in Poker, never try to "fill an inside straight" in Gin Rummy. If for example you have a 4 and a 5, you can add to this with either of two cards, a 3 or a 6. If you have a 4 and a 6, however, you're only half as likely to run across a 5. Sample Play Although gaining three sets almost always assures you a knock, the clock is ticking fast, and the hand may end before you're ready. The important thing is that you beat your opponent to the punch, knock first and take the points derived from the other player's deadwood. Make it your overall goal to form two sets and retain a mix of lower cards (adding up to 10 or less). This is the fastest means of knocking first. However, to get to this point, you should understand the difference between the early and late phases of the game and the different strategies required during each. Figure 1 shows a game in the early phase (the opening deal). You have the option here of taking the 3 of spades. This may appear to be a good choice as it gives you a combination pair, and it's a low card (low cards are better when counting deadwood). However, getting good combinations doesn't help that much because forming sets wins games of Gin Rummy. You should almost always draw from the stock, unless you can form a set or extend an existing set by taking the discard.

Figure 1: Preferring the Stock

In this case, you decide to draw, pulling an 8 of clubs (Figure 2). The 8 of clubs doesn't help your hand at all, and you discard it. In this situation, it's obvious that keeping your jacks, queens, and kings is better than hanging onto the 8, because you have a pair of each. Even if you only had one king, you should probably keep that over the 8. Discarded face cards are very common, and your chances of matching a king via the discard pile are very high. For example, in this case your opponent is not likely to have a pair of kings (since you have two) and will probably discard a single king, so it doesn't end up as deadwood in his or her hand.

Figure 2: Keeping Face Cards

Your opponent takes the 8 and, not unexpectedly, discards a face card—the jack of diamonds (Figure 3). You snap it up to form a set of three jacks. Now, your discard is more difficult. You have four very low cards and may want to hang onto them. However, with your low cards there is only one card that can complete a set, the 3 of clubs. Since it will be much easier for you to form a set with higher cards, you throw away the 4 of clubs.

Figure 3: Discarded Face Cards

Your opponent discards the 10 of spades. This card wouldn't form a set, so you ignore it. You draw from the stock, taking up the 2 of diamonds (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Dissolving the Higher Pair

Now that the game has progressed several turns, you decide the time is right to rid your hand of kings and queens. Waiting up to six turns before getting rid of higher-ranking cards is normally an acceptable strategy, but with the 2 of diamonds added to your hand, all your lower ranking cards are forming combinations, so you don't want to lose them. You dissolve your pair of kings by discarding the king of diamonds. Your opponent discards another jack, which you take into your hand, adding to your set. Your discard this turn is more obvious, and your useless king goes into the discard pile (Figure 5). As an unmatched higher-ranking card, the king is now an encumbrance, and you should rid yourself of this excess baggage. Figure 5: Discarding Unmatched Higher Cards

The sharper Gin Rummy players can track the discards to help them avoid discarding good cards to their opponents. It also enables them to hold onto the best card combinations. For example, take a look at Figure 6. Here, you have drawn a 5 of diamonds from the stock. To win the game, you need another set. Which of your card combinations are most likely to produce a set? Keeping the 5 and discarding the 8 seems prudent as the 5 and pair of 6s are a versatile combination. Suppose, however, that the 6 of spades has already been buried in the discard pile? In this case, trying to get three 6s is futile. The only available 6 that completes the sequence is the 6 of clubs, and this card is better matched to the 7 and 8 (doing so reduces your deadwood). You should dissolve the pair, and discard the 6 of hearts.

Figure 6: Reading the Discard Pile

To add a further plot twist (and show you another use for remembering the discards), suppose your opponent picked up the 9 of diamonds from the discard pile in the beginning of the game, and later threw out the 10 of diamonds. This is a sign that your opponent is not attempting a diamond sequence, but has a set of 9s instead. In this case, the 9 of clubs is probably sitting cozily in your opponent's hand. The 7 and 8 in your hand are essentially worthless, and they displace the 6 of hearts (since they're higher ranking) as the prime candidates for discard.

See Also How to Play Gin Rummy Gin Rummy Background In 1950, the United States Playing Card Co. conducted a survey of American cardplayers and discovered that the Rummy family of card games was our favorite family game. And why not? As David Parlett wrote in The Penguin Book of Card Games, "Rummy is deservedly popular because it is easy to learn, fast to play, suitable for all ages, playable by any number, and as suitable for gamblers as for missionaries—though perhaps not both at once." Gin Rummy is the most sophisticated member of the oldest branch of the Rummy family tree—the one in which the object is to be the first to "go out." Three nations claim the credit for the invention of Rummy. The only thing they all agree on is the time period when the inventing took place: the 1800s. Let's start with...

The Mexicans The Spanish brought the first playing cards to the New World. The Indians living in the Spanish colonies used these cards to develop their own games, including one called Conquian, from the Spanish con quien ("with whom," as in "With whom are you playing?") Perhaps Conquian was originally a partnership game. Conquian's rules were similar to many of the Rummy games. The major difference was that Conquian was played with a Spanish pack of 40 cards—the 10, 9, and 8 of each suit were removed. The Mexicans inherited this pack from the Spanish, but they didn't inherit this game. The earliest mentions of Rummy in Spanish card-game books appear much later in the 20th century and are obviously borrowings from across the Atlantic. Even the Spanish name for Rummy—Ramy—is a Spanish corruption of the English word. At some point in the 18th century, Conquian migrated north into Texas, where the Texans, with their usual flair for language, dubbed it Coon-Can or Conkin. There are reports of Conquian in gaming literature as far back as 1860, but when the game finally made it into the hallowed pages of Hoyle, it was as Coon-Can (The Standard Hoyle, 1887). The name Conquian didn't appear in Hoyle until a decade later (Foster's Complete Hoyle, 1897). Stewart Culin, a 19th-century curator of the Smithsonian Institution, reported in Chess and Playing Cards (1896) that Conquian was a favorite among the Apaches of the American Southwest.

The French Most scholars have put their money on the Mexican theory, but some believe that Rummy is a descendant of Poker (see Poker Background Poker), which most probably originated with French settlers in Louisiana. The French theory is based on some likenesses between the two games and on the liquor allusions in Rummy and Gin Rummy. 1. The Likenesses: Poker and Rummy are the most popular games based on making combinations rather than on taking tricks. (In the 1950s, we would have had to add Canasta to that sentence; in that decade the fad from Uruguay was even bigger than Bridge.) Combinations in the Rum family are called melds. As in Poker, melds are made of cards that match each other according to specific guidelines. In Rummy, a group is three or more cards of the same rank (Q-Q-Q); a sequence is three or more cards of the same suit (A-2-3-4 of hearts). Note the resemblance to Poker hands. (However, unlike Poker, where each deal is a game within a game, in Rummy the play never stops. Also unlike Poker, in Rummy you're penalized for whatever cards you haven't grouped at the end of the game.) 2. The Liquor: Most of the backers of Poker as the parent of Rummy claim that Rummy appeared in the 1890s as Rum Poker. The American card authority John Scarne claimed it was called Whisky Poker which later became Rum Poker. (Scarne claims Rum Poker became Rum at the turn of the century to clean the game up for families. Rum represented drinking, but Poker apparently represented something much worse!) There was also at this time a Gin Poker. "The origins of Rummy," Parlett wrote, "would therefore appear to be lost not so much in the mists of time as in the alcoholic haze of history." There are two obstacles to the acceptance of the French/Poker theory. One is Whisky, Rum, and Gin Poker all had rules much like Conquian's, and Conquian was reported long before the other three. The other is Rummy's first appearance in print, in a 1905 Hoyle, was as Rhum, or Rhummy. spellings that suggest a European influence rather than drinking. Parlett tracked down a German game of that era that used rum to mean "honors" and a Dutch game that used roem to mean "meld." To further complicate the issue, the game had become Rum by 1912, but in a 1919 card book, it was referred to as Poker Rum.

The Chinese Poker and Rummy are similar to two board games with Chinese roots, Dominoes and Mah Jongg, in that all four games are built on the principle of making combinations. Therefore, a Chinese claim for the legacy of Rummy is not at all far-fetched. In 1891, a British traveler named W.H. Wilkinson transformed a Chinese card game called Khanhoo into a game with a 62-card pack. Wilkinson borrowed from the Chinese (or invented) many rules similar to Rummy's. British researcher Andrew Pennycook, in The Book of Card Games (1982), found another Chinese game from that period that's a close cousin: Kon Khin. Now that sounds intriguing. Coincidence? Or did the Mexicans get this game from the Chinese? How would the transfer have happened? Answers to these questions might never be found, so let's move on to something we can answer—how Gin Rummy entered the world.

The Gin Game Elwood T. Baker was living in New York and tutoring the well-to-do in Whist at the Knickerbocker Whist Club in the first decade of this century. (Yes, apparently in those days and in that place, you could make a living teaching people to play cards.) Baker was growing bored with Rummy and, in seeking to speed the game up, invented Gin Rummy. (The game was named by his young son, who apparently knew a few things about adults and their recreational pursuits.) Parlett didn't believe Baker thought up Gin Rummy; he claimed that the Whist tutor only fine-tuned the scoring and then launched the nationwide craze for the game after teaching it to his students (the way Edmond Hoyle launched Whist). But Parlett can't always be right, and he offered no other candidate as Gin Rummy's inventor, so as far as we're concerned Elwood T. Baker and his claim to fame can rest peacefully. Gin Rummy declined in popularity in the 1920s when the card world was assaulted by Contract Bridge. It resurfaced in the 1940s when it was taken up by Hollywood celebrities (a long-running Broadway show of this time, The Gin Game, added fuel to the fire). In the 1950s, Gin Rummy was shoved aside by the mania for Canasta. Today the game remains popular, though it's not near the peak it occupied at the time of the USPCC survey in 1950.

The Biggest Game in Sports A variation of Conquian called Panguingue (pronounced "pahn-gheeng-ghee") or Pan is still played today. The chief feature of this game is the number of cards used; five to eight Spanish packs (200 to 320 cards)! As many as 16 players can be accommodated in one deal, though they'd have to possess considerable patience to get through this gargantuan game. How to Play Go Fish In Go Fish, you try to collect four cards of the same rank (called a book) by asking other players for cards. The goal of Go Fish is to make the most books before all the cards are gone. On your turn, you can ask any other player if they have any of the card you are currently holding. For example, if you have a five, you might ask Harley: "Do you have any fives?" If the player has one or more of that card, you get it, and you can go again, asking any player for a card. If the player doesn't have that card, they'll tell you to Go Fish. When you Go Fish, you get one new card. In the rare case that you get the card you asked for when you Go Fish, you get another turn. On other players' turns, they can ask you or another player for cards. You have to give them any cards they ask you for. If you don't have any of that kind of card, you can tell them to Go Fish. If you run out of cards, you get five new cards.

Playing the Game 1 You are dealt five cards. If you are dealt a book, those cards are removed from your hand and you get one point. 2 It is your turn when your nameplate flashes. In any order: Select a player to ask for a card by clicking on the player or the player's cards. Select a card to ask for by clicking on a card of that rank in your hand. 3 If the player has any such cards, that player must give you all of the cards of that type. Those cards swim into your hand and you can go again, asking any player for any card. If the player you asked doesn't have any such cards, you must Go Fish by clicking one of the swimming fish (some of the fish will try hard not to be caught!). (The crab will wave a sign reminding you that you need to fish.) When you catch a fish, a card will swim into your hand. If you happen to get the card you asked for, you get to go again. 4 Whenever you get a four-of-a-kind, you get one point. 5 When your turn is over, the player to your left goes next, and so on. If a player asks you for a card that you have, any of those cards swim out of your hand into that player's hand. If a player asks you for a card that you don't have, click your Go Fish bottle to make that player go fish. 6 If any player runs out of cards, that player gets five new cards (if cards are available). Play continues until all players' hands are empty and there are no more fish cards to draw. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game.

Notes and Tips: When all the fish cards are gone, all the fish will swim off the screen. The best strategy in Go Fish is to remember what cards each player asked for, especially if that player was successful in getting cards. You might draw a card they have been asking for, and be able to take all their cards! It is usually better to draw cards from the player who has the most cards.

Game Options You have the option of setting the game difficulty. (This sets how well computer players remember what cards other players have asked for.) To change this option, click Go Fish Settings on the Options menu. For help on this option, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Go Fish Strategies and Tips Go Fish Background

Go Fish Strategies and Tips Winning at Go Fish takes luck, a decent memory, and a good sense of timing. The luck part we can't help you with. Ditto for a decent memory (actually, you can read the strategies section in Memory Match for some mnemonic aids). Try to remember what people have asked for in previous turns. This is especially important if someone has captured two cards of a specific rank. If you have the opportunity to ask for that rank, make sure you take it—you'll get a warm feeling when you lay down four cards. Timing refers to the best moment to risk everything, reveal your hand, and go for matches. This won't happen until the second half of the game. In the first half of the game, while most of the deck is in the stockpile, it is difficult to score points. You are better off hiding your hand from your opponents. Choose one or two cards in your hand, and keep asking other players for those cards every turn. When the stockpile gets low, most of the cards you need will now be sitting in the other players' hands. Start asking for cards, and keep asking. Often, the last three or four sets will be taken by one person, bringing the game to a sudden close.

See Also How to Play Go Fish Go Fish Background Go Fish is perhaps the simplest representative of the family of "exchange to collect" card games, where the goal is to take cards from your opponents in order to make matching sets. (This is in contrast to the family of "exchange to scapegoat" games, like Old Maid, where the goal is to get your opponents to take certain cards from you.) Another important feature of Go Fish is that of matching cards in your hand to cards available from the table. This is referred to as fishing in China, where, according to The Oxford Guide to Card Games, such matching games are as popular as trick-taking games are in the west. The exception seems to be Italy, where the national games of Scopa and Scopone are of the fishing type. In fact, according to the game historian David Parlett, in the sixteenth century, a popular Italian gambling game was called Andare a Piscere (Go Fish). How to Play Hearts There are four players, no teams. Hearts uses the standard 52-card pack. The cards in each suit rank from the ace (the highest) to the deuce (the lowest). There are no trumps. The deal rotates clockwise, as does the play of the cards. The entire pack is dealt. Unless it is a "no passing" round, or passing has been turned off in the options, each player passes three cards to another player. You must choose the cards to pass before looking at the ones you'll be receiving. The player with the 2 of clubs (or, in another variation, the player to the dealer's left) leads the first trick. Whichever card is led first, the other players must follow suit if they can. A trick is won by the highest card in the suit led. The winner of a trick makes the next lead.

The Object of the Game The object of play is to avoid taking points in tricks. Each heart counts as one point, and the queen of spades counts as 13 points. However, if you take all the hearts and the queen of spades, you give each of your opponents 26 points and take none yourself. This is called "Shooting the Moon," and pulling it off is a difficult feat. If you have the optional jack of diamonds rule turned on, you must also take the jack of diamonds to shoot the moon. Hearts cannot be led until they've been broken; that is, taken in a previous trick after someone who couldn't follow suit plays one. Points cannot be played on the first trick; it is a "safe" round. When a player equals or breaks 100 points, the game is over, and the player with the lowest score at that time is the winner. With the jack of diamonds option enabled, the default score for ending the game is 50 instead of 100.

Playing the Game 1 At the beginning of each hand, you may need to pass three cards. Drag the cards into the tray, or right-click them, and click OKAY to pass them. 2 On your turn, click the card you want to play and drag it to the middle of the board. Or, right-click the card to automatically place it on the table. Game Options You have the option of setting how cards are led and passed, whether hands are finished early, how hearts are broken, how cards are sorted, and the game difficulty. You can also choose play with the optional jack of diamonds rule, where the player who takes the jack of diamonds loses 10 points from their score. To change these options, click Hearts Settings in the Options menu. For information on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Hearts Strategies and Tips Hearts Background Hearts Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Hearts game: Success in Hearts is largely determined by the cards you pass before every hand. (In the rounds when you don't pass, you just have to hope for some luck to back your skill!) Always pass an ace or a king if that's all you have in that suit. (Always pass the queen of spades if you have no spades to back her up!) High cards are not dangerous if you have enough low ones to back them up (three at a minimum). Since points can't be played on the first trick (with the default game settings), use the first trick as a chance to get rid of a high club if you don't have the two of clubs, or the ace or king of spades if you are void in clubs. It's better to keep the queen of spades and dump her on someone during play than to pass her only to have her dumped back on you. But you can't keep the queen unless you have enough spades to defend her (four is best, three is chancy). When passing, keep every spade you can if you don't have the queen, since you might receive her from your opponent's pass. However, don't keep the ace and king of spades unless you have at least three other spades to defend yourself. When passing, if you have the A-K-Q of spades and three or four low spades, give away the A-K and make somebody sweat! If you don't have to worry about passing high spades or lone royals, get rid of an entire suit or most of that suit. When the first card of a suit appears, if only you and another player are holding that suit, you could be in big trouble (unless you have the 2-3-4; then you're in the driver's seat). Try to get rid of this suit as quickly as possible. The best insurance against picking up the queen of spades is to lead low spades every chance you get. Force her out of hiding! If you have four or more cards in a suit, including high cards and low ones, play the high cards early and save the low ones for the later, more dangerous rounds. If someone picks up the queen of spades before any other points have been scored, that person may try to shoot the moon. Hold on to a high card in at least one suit to try to stop that attempt. If you have the jack of diamonds options turned on, the ace, king, and queen of diamonds have value they don't in the regular game, but watch out! Holding onto a high diamond in hopes of capturing the jack can end up netting you the queen of spades instead! Shooting the moon is for the real gambler. The odds are against you! There are few thrills like it in all of carddom, but don't try it unless you have nerves of steel and the cards to back it up!

Advanced Strategies The queen of spades rules the game of Hearts. To ignore the queen is to court humiliation and risk defeat. Consideration of the queen should begin before play starts, during the passing phase. Any high spades (Q, K, A) are dangerous if they are not protected by several lower spades. For example, if dealt the hand shown in Figure 1, your queen is almost unprotected (only the jack helps). If you keep her, as shown in Figure 2, you will most likely get stuck with her later during a trick.

Figure 1: Unprotected High Spade

Figure 2: Poor Discard

Figure 3 shows a different situation in which keeping the queen is actually desirable. Here, with five spades in your hand, you are almost guaranteed of passing off the queen to someone else. You just need to wait for the right opportunity (discussed later).

Figure 3 Well-protected Queen

Don't be nervous about keeping high cards in your hard. Keeping these in combination with low cards is not usually dangerous. Figure 4 shows a game in progress (3rd trick). You must play a diamond. You can play the 2 or ace. Play your ace, and save the 2. This early in the game, it is unlikely you'll take a heart. The last player probably still has a diamond. It's a harmless trick, and you won't score points.

Figure 4: Playing the High Cards

However, it can be fatal to be short on low cards in a particular suit, especially later in the game. Using the last example, say a few hands have passed, and you still have the 8, 10, queen, and king of clubs (Figure 5). After the ace and 9 are played, you happily throw down your queen, and the top player takes the trick with the ace. However, the player to your right threw down the jack of clubs. You now have the three highest clubs (8, 10, K).

Figure 5: Long in a Suit

What happens after that could be destructive. Players will be running out of clubs, and next time someone leads in clubs, they'll paint you with hearts or stick you with the queen of spades (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Running Out of Options

Guarded high-cards should be saved until later in the game, especially if they are hearts. This will help to prevent someone from successfully Shooting the Moon. If the player who receives your discards likes to Shoot the Moon, you may wish to pass them a low heart. This may discourage them from making the attempt in the first place.

See Also How to Play Hearts Hearts Background The concept of turning games around and letting the losers win and the winners lose has been applied to most of the card-game families. It seems to work best with the family of trick-taking games. Hearts (also known as Omnibus Hearts, Black Maria, and Black Lady) is the most successful example of a trick-avoidance game. Merilyn Simonds Mohr noted its international reputation—the only game of its type to ascend to those heights. The United States Playing Card Co. reports that Hearts is the second-favorite card game among American college students (Spades is number one). The first unmistakable sighting of the game was in an American book, Trumps' New Card Games (1886). So where did Hearts come from? The writer R.F. Foster asked this question of his readership in Foster on Hearts (1895). The response must have been dismal, because Foster doesn't elaborate on this subject in any of his many subsequent books on cards. Though we can't pinpoint an evolutionary path for Hearts, we know it descends, however indirectly, from a French game called Reversis (first recorded in 1601). Reversis is probably the ancestor of all trick-avoidance games. According to David Parlett in A History of Card Games, Reversis was sufficiently popular to warrant a book devoted to it as early as 1634, and it remained in most game manuals until late in the 1800s. Parlett, who cruised the pages of every Gamester and Hoyle of the past 300 years, said that despite this Whist-like longevity, Reversis never made much headway in the English-speaking countries. This leaves us with the mystery of Hearts. Until the missing link in the evolutionary chain is found, we'll never know how this French game of the Renaissance became so popular in American college dormitories. How to Play Memory Match You can play Memory Match by yourself or with another person in front of your computer. To play by yourself, select One Player when selecting Memory Match from the menu or from the Main Screen; to play with another person, select Two Players. Cards are dealt face down into a grid layout. The Object of the Game is to find and remove all matching pairs of cards. Click on a card to turn it over, then click a second card. If the two cards are a pair, they are removed from the layout. If not, they are turned face down.

Playing the Game 1 Click on a card to turn it over, then click a second card. 2 If the two cards are a pair, they are removed from the layout. If not, they are turned face down. If you turn over a wild card along with a regular card, the match for the regular card is also turned over, and all three cards are removed from the grid. 3 If you find three pairs in a row without a miss, you get a bonus. 4 When all pairs have been found and the board is empty, your score is displayed. Playing a Two-Player Game The two-player game is played like the regular game, above, but the objective is to see who can be the first to find a set number of pairs. The game is played in multiple rounds. At the start of some rounds, the cards are shown face up for a short time. Other rounds do not start with this "peek" phase.

Scoring (One-Player Game Only) Matched pairs, misses, bonuses, layout size, and deck difficulty all affect your score. If you play a more difficult layout (larger grid size) with a more difficult deck, your pairs, misses, and bonuses count more. For example, if you play a 4 x 6 grid using the medium difficulty deck and you find the 12 pairs with 9 misses and find three pairs in a row 2 times, your score is 105. But if you play the same layout using the most difficult deck and do just as well, your score is 147. Your score is computed from a "score factor," based on the grid size and the deck difficulty (the larger the grid and the harder the deck, the higher the score factor). The computation is: the number of pairs times the score factor, plus the number of three-in-a-rows times one and a half times the score factor; minus the number of misses times half the score factor.

Game Options You have the option of setting the grid size, deck difficulty and color, and two-player options like whether to allow peeking and how many pairs each player needs to win the game. To change these options, click Memory Match Settings on the Options menu. For help on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Memory Match Strategies and Tips Memory Match Background Memory Match Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Memory Match game: Save your best efforts for your first few games. After that, unless you've had too much coffee, your brain begins throbbing and card positions from earlier games begin blending in your mind. You can make your selections by following a pattern (e.g., top to bottom). This may help you to remember card positions. On the other hand, if you're playing head to head, you might want to avoid patterns, lest you inadvertently help your opponent more than yourself. Advanced techniques have been devised that can turn otherwise normal human beings into Johnny Mnemonics. We will only mention a few here: Naming: If you start giving permanent names to pictures (e.g., you name the female Greek image Aphrodite), it might help you remember the image. Visualization: You can lock an item into your memory through visualization and association. The visualization part is easy since we are dealing with images. For example, if the spiderweb card shows up in a corner, remember this: cobweb corner (the alliteration of "c-c" also helps!). As another example, the card with lips can become "lower lips" or "upper lips" depending on its location. Chaining: This method uses visualization, but links several items together. For example, if you turned over a row of cards depicting the Greek statue, flies, and a doughnut, you could remember it this way: "Aphrodite is bothered by flies that like doughnuts." Use an Acrostic: A phrase or word derived from the first letter of other words is called an acrostic. For example, SAIDRO can be used to describe a row of these six cards: Symbol, Aphrodite, Insect, Doughnut, Rat, Old (woman). As a final tip for the more casual gamers, if you think you might know the location of a pair, always turn the card you're least sure about first. This method is definitely less embarrassing if you're wrong.

See Also How to Play Memory Match Memory Match Background Just as the Olympic games are tests of basic human physical abilities, pushed to their extremes, Memory Match is an extreme test of a basic human mental ability—remembering. Surely simple games based on memorization are at least as old as the ancient Olympics. And just as in the Olympics there is the important distinction between sprints and marathons, there are different types of memory that can be exercised: short-term and long-term. Short-term memory is not usually as reliable as we would like (just ask someone who can't remember anyone's name at a party). Remembering unrelated bits of information quickly is quite a challenge for people and has made for the invention of many simple but entertaining memory games. Systematic research into human memory is a relatively new field. Although they are now terms of common parlance, the words short-term and long-term memory only came into use in the latter half of the twentieth century. Psychological studies have helped to define what short-term memory is, and have also suggested techniques for helping people improve their short-term memory. It is generally agreed, for instance, that on average people can remember about seven independent pieces of information for about thirty seconds. Remembering more things requires practicing techniques for "chunking" multiple pieces of information into one, thus making better use of those "seven pieces." Remembering for longer periods requires transferring information from short-term memory into long-term memory. How this happens is certainly a complicated mental process, but, as anyone knows who has memorized a poem or a speech, repetition and practice seem to be the key. Practical methods for improving short-term memory go back farther than the term itself. At the turn of the century, the Pelman Institute in Britain devised a number of techniques for helping people improve their memory. A legacy of this is that the game we call Memory Match is referred to in England as "Pelmanism." How to Play Old Maid Old Maid is a card-passing game where each player hopes not to end up with the odd card out--the Old Maid. In Hoyle Card Games, a special 41-card animal deck is used instead of regular cards. There are 40 animal cards (4 cards each of 10 different kinds of animals), and one Troll card, which serves as the "Old Maid."

Playing the Game 1 Each player gets ten cards. If you have any pairs of cards (two cards with identical animals), click both cards to discard them. 2 On your turn, click a card in the hand of the player on your right to take it. If you get a pair, click each card to discard it. 3 Play continues, with each player drawing cards from the player on their right and discarding any pairs. 4 Eventually one player will be left with the Troll card (the "Old Maid"). That ends the game, and the possessor of the Troll card loses the game and turns into a troll. Game Options You have the option of setting whether to use tutorial mode. You can also change this option by clicking the light-switch in the upper-right of the screen. To change this option, click Old Maid Settings on the Options menu. For help on this option, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Old Maid Background

Old Maid Background Old Maid is part of a family of basic card games in which the mechanisms of play are as simple as possible. The simplest mechanism of all is that of exchanging cards with other players. One subfamily of exchange games is the negative or scapegoat group; in these games, holding the scapegoat card at the end of the hand brings with it a penalty, from loss of points to loss of the game. The best-known negative game in English is Old Maid (for which we have exactly zero evolutionary data). The flipside of these negative games, those in which collecting rather than discarding cards is the object, include the Rummy family and the children's game Go Fish. Old Maid can be played with a standard deck of cards by removing all but one of a particular card to be the Old Maid; typically a queen. How to Play Pinochle Pinochle is a trick-taking game, like Euchre, Bridge, Hearts, Spades, and War. Originally a European game played by two people, it is now extremely popular in the United States as a game played in teams by 4 players (Auction with Partners, Double-Pack, and Partnership Pinochle). The Pinochle deck contains twelve cards in each of four suits: two in each of the ranks A, 10, K, Q, J, and 9. The 10 is the second highest rank (ace is highest). Hoyle Card Games offers five variations of Pinochle, a two-handed game and four different four-handed games. To play the two-handed game, select Two Players when selecting Pinochle from the menu or the Main Screen. To play a four-handed game, select Four Players when selecting Pinochle from the menu or the Main Screen. Then, click Pinochle Settings on the Options menu, and select the Game Type from the list. The standard game type is Partnership Auction Pinochle. For the game rules, click the appropriate game below: Two-Handed Pinochle Four-handed Pinochle games: Partnership Auction Pinochle Double-Pack Pinochle Partnership Pinochle Four-Handed Pinochle Game Options You can change the game type (for four-handed games), whether hands are finished early, how cards are sorted, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Pinochle Settings on the Options menu. For help on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Pinochle Strategies and Tips Pinochle Background Partnership Auction Pinochle Partnership Auction Pinochle is played with one deck of Pinochle cards and four players are grouped in teams of two. The players sitting opposite each other are partners. It is conventional to name the players North, South, East, and West. North and South are partners, as are East and West.

The Deck Partnership Auction Pinochle is played with a 48-card deck. The deck contains twelve cards in each of four suits —two in each of the ranks ace, ten, king, queen, jack, and nine. The rank of cards differs from normal custom: the ten outranks everything (within its suit) except the ace. In the trick-taking phase of the game, the aces, tens, and kings are worth points, and so are called "counters." queens, jacks, and nines are not worth points (although they can win tricks); thus they are called "non-counters."

The Deal Each player receives 12 cards.

The Bid The winner of the bid has the right to name the trump suit and gets to play the first trick. The minimum opening bid is 100 points, and the player to the dealer's left starts the bidding. Bids are made in multiples of 10 points. Each player must either bid at least 10 points higher than the previous bid or pass. When only one person has not said "pass," that person has won the bid.

The Meld There are three types of meld, and a card may belong to different melds as long as they are of different types. Each player places face-up on the table only those cards being melded.

Sequences A, T, K, Q, J of the trump suit (flush) 150 K,Q in trump (Royal Marriage) 40 K,Q of any other suit (Marriage) 20

Special One jack of diamonds and one queen of spades (Pinochle) 40 Both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades (Double Pinochle) 300 Nine of Trump (called the dix, pronounce "deece") 10

Groups One ace in each suit (hundred aces) 100 One king in each suit (eighty kings) 80 One queen in each suit (sixty queens) 60 One jack in each suit (forty jacks) 40

The partner's separate melds are added into one total, but the team does not actually receive the meld points until they win a trick.

The Play (Taking Tricks) All players pick up their melded cards and the bidder plays the opening lead. Proceeding to the left, each player plays a card on the trick following these rules: If a player has a card of the same suit as the card that was led, it must be played. If possible, the player must play a card with a higher rank than the card that currently controls the trick. If a player has no cards in the suit led, a trump suit must be played if possible. If the trick already contains trump, the player must beat it with a higher trump if possible. If a player cannot follow suit and cannot play a trump, any other card may be played. If someone has already trumped, later players who can follow suit may play any card of the suit led because no card of the led suit can beat a trump. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest -ranking card of the suit led wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest-ranking card, the trick is won by whichever of the equal cards was played first. Each counter card won is worth 10 points. The trick winner leads to the next trick, and so on until twelve tricks have been played. The team that wins the final trick gets an additional 10 points.

Scoring Each side adds up the points it won in tricks and adds the points from its melds (if it has won at least one trick). Bidder's opponents add their total into the accumulated score. If the bidder's team wins at least the amount of the bid, they add the amount won to the accumulated score. If they don't make the bid, they subtract the bid from their accumulated score. The side that first reaches 1000 points wins a game.

See Also How to Play Pinochle Double-Pack Pinochle Double-Pack Pinochle is played by four people, in two sets of partners like Partnership Auction Pinochle.

The Deck Double-Pack Pinochle uses a deck of 80 cards, made from two Pinochle decks (or four regular decks) by discarding everything except the aces, tens, kings, queens, and jacks. There are four of each card. Therefore, there are four aces of spades, four aces of hearts, etc. The rank of cards differs from normal custom: the ten outranks everything (within its suit) except the ace.

The Deal Each player receives 20 cards.

The Bid After the cards are dealt, the person to the left of the dealer starts the bidding. That person may bid 500 or higher, or may pass. When a person has passed, he or she may not bid again. Bids are made in multiples of 10. The bid advances clockwise around the table, skipping those who have passed. When three people have passed, the remaining bidder wins the bid, and he or she picks the trump suit and will later lead the first trick.

The Meld After the bid is over, each player shows the cards that comprise his or her meld.

Double-Pack Meld Table Type I Comment Groups 1 Set 2 Sets 3 Sets 4 Sets A-A-A-A 100 1000 2000 4000 Ace in all 4 suits K-K-K-K 80 800 1600 3200 King in all 4 suits Q-Q-Q-Q 60 600 1200 2400 Queen in all 4 suits J-J-J-J 40 400 800 1600 Jack in all 4 suits

Type II Pinochles Pinochle 40 300 900 2700 Queen spade + jack diamond

Type III Marriages and Runs Marriages 20 40 60 80 King + queen in same suit Marriages of trumps 40 80 120 160 King + queen of trumps Runs 150 1500 3000 6000 A-10-K-Q-J of trumps

You can count the same card in melds of different types (e.g., a queen of spades could be part of a marriage, a set of queens, and a Pinochle), but not in more than one meld of the same type (e.g., a king and two queens does not count as two marriages).

The Play (Taking Tricks) A trick consists of one card from each player, played in turn clockwise. The bid winner leads the first trick. The winning card is the highest trump or, if no trump was played, the highest card in the suit led. The trick winner removes all four cards to be counted later and then leads the next trick. At the end of each hand, each team counts 10 points for each ace, 10, and king that they took (ace, 10, and king are the "counters"). Whoever wins the last (20th) trick gets 20 extra points.

Scoring After the last trick has been played, the teams add to their accumulated score the number of points scored from melds and the counters taken in tricks. If the bidders did not win at least one trick, they do not get their meld points. If the bidders do not get at least as many points as they bid, they score nothing for their meld and tricks and the bid amount is deducted from their score. The game continues until one team reaches 3550 points.

See Also How to Play Pinochle Partnership Pinochle Partnership Pinochle is very similar to Partnership Auction Pinochle, except there is no bidding. There are four player with North and South as one team and East and West as the other.

The Deck Partnership Pinochle is played with the 48-card Pinochle deck. The rank of the cards are ace-10-king-queen-jack-9. In the trick-taking phase of the game, the aces, tens, and kings are worth points, and so are called "counters." queens, jacks, and nines are not worth points (although they can win tricks), thus they are called "non-counters."

The Deal Each player receives 12 cards, non-dealer first. The last card the dealer receives is the trump suit and is turned up so all players can see it. If the dealer turns over the dix (nine of trump), he automatically scores 10 points. Otherwise a player (beginning with the dealer's left) holding the dix can exchange it for the trump card and score 10 points The trump card, or the dix exchanged for it, then becomes part of the dealer's hand, so that each player has 12 cards.

The Meld Following the dix trading, each player shows on the table any melds he or she can make, scoring them according to the following table:

Sequences A, T, K, Q, J of the trump suit (flush) 150 K,Q in Trump (Royal Marriage) 40 K,Q of any other suit (Marriage) 20

Special One jack of diamonds and one queen of spades (Pinochle) 40 Both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades (Double Pinochle) 300 Nine of trump (called the dix, pronounce "deece") 10

Groups One ace in each suit (hundred aces) 100 One king in each suit (eighty kings) 80 One queen in each suit (sixty queens) 60 One jack in each suit (forty jacks) 40

The partners' separate melds are added into one total, but the team does not actually get their meld points until they win a trick.

The Play (Taking Tricks) All players pick up their meld cards and the player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. Proceeding to the left, each player plays a card on the trick following these rules: If a player has a card of the same suit as the card that was led, it must be played. If possible, the player must play a card with a higher rank than the card that currently controls the trick. If a player has no cards in the suit led, a trump must be played if possible. If the trick already contains trump, the player must beat it with a higher trump if possible. If a player cannot follow suit and cannot play a trump, any other card may be played. If someone has already trumped, later players who can follow suit may play any card of the suit led because no card of the led suit can beat a trump. After everyone has played a card, the highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest -ranking card of the suit led wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest-ranking card, the trick is won by whichever of the equal cards was played first. Each counter card won is worth 10 points. The trick winner leads to the next trick, and so on until twelve tricks have been played. The team that wins the final trick gets an additional 10 points. Scoring Each side adds up the points it was won in tricks and adds the points from their melds (if the team has won at least one trick). Each team adds their total into the accumulated score. The first side to reach an accumulated score of 1000 points wins the game.

See Also How to Play Pinochle Two-Handed Pinochle This is a Pinochle game for two players. The Object of the Game is to win tricks and meld certain card combinations.

The Deck The 48-card Pinochle pack. Rank of the cards are ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9.

The Deal Each player receives 12 cards, non-dealer first. The next card is turned up and placed on the table; it is the trump card and determines the trump suit. The remainder of the pack, the stock, is placed face down.

The Play (The First 12 Tricks) The non-dealer leads the first trick. If a trump is led, it wins the trick unless the opponent plays a higher trump. If any other suit is led, the card led wins unless the opponent plays a higher card of the same suit or a trump. The leader may play any card, and the follower may play any card; there is no requirement to follow suit. After each trick, both players draw a card from the top of the stock to restore their hands to 12 cards, trick winner drawing first. The trick winner leads the next trick, but first has the option of melding.

The Meld Upon winning a trick, and before drawing from the stock, a player may meld any combination of cards having value. The meld is formed by placing the cards face up, where they remain until played in a trick or until the stock has been emptied. The various combinations that may be melded and the points they receive are listed below: Type 1: Run - A 10 K Q J in trumps - 150 points Marriage - K Q in same suit - 20 points Royal Marriage - K Q in trumps - 40 points

Type 2: Aces around - A in each suit - 100 points Kings around - K in each suit - 80 points Queens around - Q in each suit - 60 points Jacks around - J in each suit - 40 points

Type 3: Pinochle - J of diamonds and Q of spades - 40 points Double Pinochle - 2 Pinochles - 300 points (A Double Pinochle is the only meld that gives a bonus beyond twice the normal meld value. For example, double kings around scores 160 points.) 9 of Trumps (Dix) - 10 points Melding is subject to the following restrictions: Only one meld may be made in a turn. For each meld, at least one card must be taken from the hand and placed on the table. A card once melded may be melded again only in a different class, or in a higher-scoring meld of the same class. If a player has melded a Royal Marriage and later adds the A, 10, and J of trumps for a run, the player is awarded full points for both melds, 40 for the Royal Marriage, and 150 points for the run. If a player has melded a Pinochle and later adds another Pinochle for a Double Pinochle the player only scores an additional 260 points, instead of 300. (If the first Pinochle had already been broken up, only 40 points would be scored for the second one.) If a player has won a trick and has the dix (nine of trump), the player may do one of the following: Score 10 points by exchanging the trump card for his dix (dix trade) if no player has already done a dix trade. Meld the dix for 10 points and lose the chance to dix trade.

The Play (The Last 12 Tricks) The winner of the twelfth trick, after a possible final meld, draws the last card of the stock, which is shown to the opponent. The opponent draws the trump card (or the dix, if an exchange has been made). Each player picks up any meld cards on the table and puts them back in their hands. The winner of the twelfth trick now leads and the rules of the play for the final twelve tricks are as follows: The follower must follow the suit to the card led, if able. If a trump is led, the follower must overtrump, if able. There is no melding during the last twelve tricks.

Scoring Melds are scored when they are made. Scores for cards taken in tricks are added to each player's score as the tricks are won. A player receives 11 points for each ace, 10 points for each ten, 4 points for each king, 3 points for each queen, and 2 points for each jack taken in tricks. The player who wins the last trick gets a 10 point bonus. The player who reaches 1,000 points first wins the game.

See Also How to Play Pinochle Four-Handed Pinochle Four-handed Pinochle is similar to Partnership Pinochle, except there are no teams and each player fends for himself.

The Deck Four-handed Pinochle is played with the 48-card Pinochle deck. The rank of the cards is ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9. In the trick-taking phase of the game, the aces, tens, and kings are worth points, and so are called "counters." queens, jacks, and nines are not worth points (although they can win tricks); thus they are called "non-counters."

The Deal Each player receives 12 cards, non-dealer first. The last card the dealer receives determines the trump suit and is turned face up. If the last-dealt card is a dix (nine of trump), the dealer automatically scores 10 points. Otherwise a player (beginning with the dealer's left) holding the dix can exchange it for the trump card and score 10 points The trump card, or the dix exchanged for it, then becomes part of the dealer's hand, so that each player has 12 cards.

The Meld Following the dix trading, each player shows on the table any melds he or she possesses, scoring them according to the following table:

Sequences A, T, K, Q, J of the trump suit (flush) 150 K,Q in Trump (Royal Marriage) 40 K,Q of any other suit (Marriage) 20

Special One jack of diamonds and one queen of spades (Pinochle) 40 Both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades (Double Pinochle) 300 Nine of Trump (called the dix, pronounce "deece") 10

Groups One ace in each suit (hundred aces) 100 One king in each suit (eighty kings) 80 One queen in each suit (sixty queens) 60 One jack in each suit (forty jacks) 40 A player only gets the meld points if he one she wins at least one trick during player.

The Play (Taking Tricks) All players pick up their meld cards and the player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. Proceeding to the left, each player plays a card on the trick following these rules: If a player has a card of the same suit as the card that was led, it must be played. If possible, the player must play a card with a higher rank than the card that currently controls the trick. If a player has no cards in the suit led, a trump must be played, if possible. If the trick already contains trump, the player must beat it with a higher trump, if possible. If a player cannot follow suit and cannot play a trump, any other card may be played. If someone has already trumped, later players who can follow suit may play any card of the suit led because no card of the led suit can beat a trump. After everyone has played a card, the highest-ranking trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest -ranking card of the suit led wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest-ranking card, the trick is won by whichever of the equal cards was played first. Each counter of the cards won is worth 10 points. The trick winner leads to the next trick, and so on until twelve tricks has been played. The player that wins the final trick gets an additional 10 points. Scoring Each player adds up the points he or she won in tricks and adds the points from his or her melds (if the player won at lease one trick). The first player to 1000 points wins the game.

See Also How to Play Pinochle Pinochle Strategies and Tips As in most bidding games, it is important in Pinochle (Partnership Auction and Doublepack) not to overbid. The cost of overbidding is high; you lose all points gained during the current round, plus your bid is subtracted from your score. To avoid underbidding and overbidding, estimate your bid by evaluating the worth of your hand. The traditional method of evaluating your hand assigns the following values to your cards: Ace = 20 points 10 = 10 points Each trump over three cards = 20 points Meld = additional points Figure 1 shows a hand that you can expect to score 190 points. The two aces are worth 40 points, and the 10 is worth 10 (50 points total). If you win the bid, you'll declare hearts as trump; your fourth, fifth, and sixth trump equal 60 points (110 total). Next, you count your meld points. Your 9 of hearts is worth 10 as dix (120 total). You have one royal marriage worth 40 (150 total) and one Pinochle worth 40 points (190 total).

Figure 1: Evaluating Your Hand

Don't hesitate to bid the full value of your hand. It will allow you to choose trump, which empowers your hand during play (particularly when you're long in one suit). When melding begins, look for marriages first, because they're the easiest to spot. The jack of diamonds and the queen of spades (forming Pinochle) are a slippery pair and can be hard to see—make sure you're thorough when looking for points. Winning at Pinochle is a team effort. If it appears that your partner will win the trick, play a counter (king, 10, or ace) to boost your score. The ace is your only usual exception to this; only play an ace as a counter if it's not a winner anymore (e.g., the suit has led three times). Figure 2 shows an example of playing counters. In this example, both aces have been played, and the player on the left is not expected to trump. Your partner has played a 10 and is likely to win the trick (the player on the right has played the lesser-valued queen). To give your team an extra 10 points, you should play the king of diamonds.

Figure 2: Playing "Counters"

Conversely, if your opponent is going to win the trick, throw a non-counter (Figure 3). In this case, either the jack or queen of spades should be played, rather than the ace. Figure 3: Playing a "Non-counter"

If you're leading, you can play a queen to force your opponents to play counters. This strategy is made even more effective if you think your partner will win the trick.

Advanced Strategies A sharp player of Pinochle demonstrates multi-tasking skills. You have to think about your best card to play while keeping track of what has been previously played. The good news is a photographic memory is not required, and you don't have to remember every single card! The two most important factors are: 1) What is the highest unplayed card in each suit? and 2) What suits are the other players void in? Figure 4 shows that the player on the right has led with the jack of clubs. The end of the hand is approaching fast. Your king beats the jack, but should you play it? Suppose you've seen both 10s of clubs, but neither ace of clubs. You know the highest unplayed clubs are the two aces. Your opponent on the left most likely has at least one of them. If you play the king, you'll give away a counter while losing the trick. It's better to hold off.

Figure 4: Highest Unplayed Card

As another example, with the cards shown in Figure 5, you decide to lead with the 9 of spades, a sure loser. You choose the 9 because you know both aces of spades are still unplayed. Playing the 9 is much better than playing your highest card (the 10 of spades). Your 10 is a loser right now; the chances are 1 in 2 that the next player has an ace of spades.

Figure 5: Highest Unplayed Card (II)

Suppose the player on the left surprises you and doesn't have the ace, and trumps your 9 (Figure 6). This means this player is void in clubs, and you can file this information away for future use. Figure 6: Trumped

An example of how this information can be useful occurs a few tricks down the road. If your partner (with the hand shown in Figure 7) is leading, he or she may consider playing the ace of clubs. However, recalling that an opposing player is void in clubs, your partner can avoid being trumped by playing something in another suit (the jack or queen of diamonds).

Figure 7: Opponent Void in Clubs

Of course, if you know your partner is void in a particular suit, you will want to play that suit, so your partner can play a trump. Sometimes, however, you may want to lead into the next player's void suit, so your partner can play a loser (since he or she doesn't have to beat the trick).

Strategies for Two-Handed Pinochle This version of Pinochle is very different from the others. A meld occurs only after each trick and is carried out only by the winner of the trick. During the first 12 tricks, melding is crucial. You want to play cards that won't be as valuable in melds. Remember that you don't have to follow suit for the first 12 tricks. 10s, 9s (but not 9 of trump), and jacks (but not the jack of diamonds) are your most expendable cards. Use 10s to win tricks when you're ready to meld. As usual, try to keep track of played cards. If both queens of spades have been played, for example, your jack of diamonds is worth little. Cards that have already been melded can't be used again in a similar type of meld. For this reason, try to play these cards before your other cards. For example, in Figure 8 you have already scored the queen of spades for Pinochle and a Marriage. You would have to have four queens to meld with her again. If this is unlikely, she is very expendable.

Figure 8: Playing Meld Cards

It is important to win tricks just before the stock is emptied. You'll want to carry out any last melds you have while preventing your opponent from doing the same. During the last 12 tricks, you should play your aces before your opponent starts running out of suits. If you wish to force out your opponent's trump cards, play your long suits first. You may wish to do this if he or she has a lot of high trumps. See Also How to Play Pinochle Pinochle Background Pinochle is derived from several different card game traditions. The oldest of its traditional features are the Ace to 10 hierarchy and marriages. Ace-10 games, in which 10s supercede kings in worth and power, probably were combined with marriage games at some point in the early 18th century. A marriage game refers to any card game that includes point-scoring opportunities arrived at by matching the king and queen of the same suit. Also related to the marriage concept is the joining of the jack of diamonds to the queen of spades (called Pinochle). The marriage element preceded all other elements. Queens did not exist as card figures until the 15th century in Germany. They first showed up in a game called Poch. Not long after that a French game, Glic, included marriages as a scoring combination. Poch and Glic are also the early ancestors of modern Poker. Sixty-Six and Binokel, two German games in the Ace-10 category, had by the early 18th century acquired the trick-taking format common to several other games. Shortly thereafter, a game called Mariagen-Spiel, shortened to Mariage, appeared in Germany. Its French name is misleading, a result of the fact that throughout Europe the nobility spoke French rather than their native tongues. Mariage was probably a German creation of the upper class. From there the story shifts to France. Paris casinos in the 1840s were surprised by the sudden appearance of Bezique, a game that included the Ace-10 feature, marriages, and an interesting scoring phenomenon that paired up jacks and queens. Bezique was played in a double-pack of 64 cards ranking from Ace-7. Games were to 1,000 points. In Bezique, the queen of spades could be matched to the jack of diamonds for points. These and other features apparently originated in an old French province named Limousin. The spade queen and her erstwhile companion invite considerable speculation. The jack of diamonds is often viewed as a rogue; in some traditional games he is used as a joker or fool. His joining up with the queen may be viewed as the herculean jest of card games. Another interpretation is that the jack of diamonds represents Hector de Maris, a knight of the round table and half-brother of Lancelot. The jack of clubs is said to represent Lancelot himself. This leads to an easy guess that the two knights' face card identities were switched, and Lancelot's transgression with Queen Guinevere was mistakenly assigned to Hector. The whole matter would be clarified if it were possible to link that mythical lady to the queen of spades. Unfortunately, no such evidence exists. At any rate, Bezique crossed the Atlantic and appeared in the Modern Pocket Hoyle in 1868. Penuchle, however did not appear in Hoyle until 12 years later. The name and play was actually derived from Binokel (two-eyes), another German card game variation, and a cousin to Bezique. Binokel is played using the familiar 48-card pack (stripped of the 7s and 8s used in Bezique). The word binokel (or pince-nez) is probably another reference to the jack and queen. These two figures, cast in profile on most decks, have only one eye each. When you lay the two cards together, their single eyes combine as two eyes, and thus, binokel. The precise spelling of Penuchle was contested for many years. An important junction occurred in 1907. In that year, R.H. Foster published Complete Pinocle and included a derogatory remark about the 'h' that others used when spelling the name. In 1908, he wrote another book, titled Laws of Pocket Pinochle. What happened to bring about this change of mind in Foster between 1907 and 1908 is most likely interesting, but also undocumented. Penuchle and its predecessors had been two-handed games until the arrival of Rummy. Versions of Pinochle for three or more players quickly appeared to stave off the Rummy threat. In the decades since then, Pinochle became one of America's most popular card games. How to Play Pitch Pitch is a simple bidding game also sometimes known as Setback or High-Low-Jack. Pitch is a good introduction to more sophisticated bidding games. Although some play Pitch as a partnership game, the version included in Hoyle Card Games is played by each player competitively, and is sometimes called Cutthroat Pitch. Pitch uses a standard 52-card deck, and each player is dealt six cards. In Pitch, you bid on the value of your hand and play to take tricks and get points. Although one player wins the bid and tries to take all the points, all players can get points by taking key cards. The goal is to be the first player to reach the winning score (7, 11, or 21).

How Bidding Works You can bid on the value of your hand. Possible bids are two, three, four, or smudge (smudge is really a bid of five). For two, three, and four, you are bidding how many of the points below you can win. For smudge, you have to win all the points below, and take all six tricks in the round. High You win the trick which has the highest available card in the trump suit. Low You win the trick which has the lowest available card in the trump suit. Jack You win the trick which has the jack of the trump suit. Game You get the most game points in the round. All 10s are worth 10, aces are worth 4, kings are worth 3, queens are worth 2, and jacks are worth 1. Other cards aren't worth anything. Note that since not all cards are dealt every hand, ace and two aren't always the high and low card (sometimes a queen may be the high and a four the low, for instance). And there may not be a jack in any given hand (since only 24 of 52 cards are dealt in a hand). If you win your bid, you get the number of points you took, even if this is higher than what you bid. For instance, if you bid 2, and take high, low, and jack, you get 3. If you lose your bid, however, you are "set back" (you lose) the number of points you bid, even if you made some of the bid. For instance, if you bid 3, and get high and low (but not jack or game), you lose 3, since you did not make all of your bid. If other players get the points you bid, they score those points. In the above example, if another player got low and game, he would get 2 points. It is possible for two or more players to tie for game (both receiving the same amount of total game points); in this case, no player gets that point. Note that you must bid smudge to get the fifth point for winning smudge. Merely getting all six tricks and high, low, jack, and game will still only give you 4 points if you didn't bid Smudge. If you bid smudge, you must get all 4 points and win all the tricks, or you lose 5 points.

Playing the Game 1 Each player in turn can bid or pass. To bid, you must bid higher than the previous bid. Bidding only lasts one round (each player only gets one chance to bid or pass). If all players pass, the cards are redealt and bidding starts again. 2 The player who won the bid (called the pitcher) plays a card by clicking it and dragging it to the middle of the board; the suit of this card is used as trump. Each player must play trump if he or she has it (trump is shown in the upper right corner). The player with the highest trump card wins. 3 The player who won the first trick leads the next trick with any card. Each player, in turn, plays a card. If you have a card of the suit led, you must either follow suit or play a trump card. If you don't have a card of the suit led, you can play any card (trump, or any other suit). Important! In Pitch, you can always choose to play trump, even if you can follow suit. If you don't have a card in the suit played, you can play any card, including trump. 4 The trick is won by the player who played the highest trump card, or, if there's no trump, the player who played the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of each trick leads the next trick, and may lead any card. 5 When all cards in the hand have been played, the score appears, showing which player won the high, low, jack, and game points. If the pitcher did not get all of his or her bid, he or she loses the number of points bid. Note that the jack point is not awarded if there was no jack dealt in this hand, and ties for the game don't go to any player. 6 The game ends when one player reaches 7, 11, or 21 (depending on the game options). Note: Bids are always scored in the order high, low, jack, and game. Scoring stops when one player reaches the winning score. (This breaks any ties in the game.) For example: in a game played to a winning score of 11, Linda has 9 points and Chris has 10 points. If Linda wins high and low, and Chris wins jack and game, Linda wins the game, because Linda gets 2 points for high and low, making 11, and Chris thus never gets the 2 points for jack and game. (This means in a close game, the person who's behind can win if he or she wins the right bids.)

Game Options You have the option of setting the winning score, how cards are sorted, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Pitch Settings on the Options menu. For help on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Pitch Strategies and Tips Pitch Background Pitch Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Pitch game: Bid based on the strong cards in your starting hand. If you have the ace and a two or three, a bid of 2 is a strong bet. If you have an ace and king, and other high cards, try bidding 4. An ace, king, and two make an excellent bid of 3. Be careful about bidding based on holding a jack, unless you have other cards in that suit to protect it (ideally higher cards); there's no guarantee you'll keep a jack in your hand if you don't have supporting cards--and someone else is likely to get that point. Watch out for your tens! Tens are worth a lot of points towards the game bid, so be careful you don't give them away too easily. If you know you're likely to lose a trick (because it's been trumped or an ace has been played), you might want to sacrifice a face card instead of a ten.

See Also How to Play Pitch Pitch Background Pitch (also sometimes known as Setback or High-Low-Jack) is the most popular of a number of similar games originating from the game All Fours, a seventeenth-century English game. The name All Fours is a reference to the four points players try to take: High, Low, Jack and Game. The goal of all fours is to take "all four" of these points. The original All Fours incorporates some of Euchre's elements, including offering a turned up suit as trump. Many variants of All Fours, including Pitch, Pedro, Seven Up, Cinch, Smear, and All Fives, cropped up in nineteenth century America. Most of these games include different styles of bidding and point values. In Pedro, for instance, you try to catch the 10 of trump instead of the game point. There are versions of this game for two to seven players, but most commonly it is played by four players, with or without partnerships. The non-partnership version used in Hoyle Card Games is sometimes known as Cutthroat Pitch (probably because players gang up on the bidder, known as the pitcher). How to Play Skat Rules Gameplay Skat is a three player trick-taking game that uses a 32-card deck consisting of four suits of A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7. Depending on the contract that is being played, cards are ranked in a special order; in most games, the four Jacks (J , J , J , J ) are the highest trumps and the remaining cards rank A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7. See Contracts for details. Each player is dealt 10 cards, and two cards are dealt to a separate pile called the skat. In Skat, you try to win hands by taking enough cards of certain values (or, in a null game, by taking no tricks). Whether you score points for winning depends on your game value, which is a formula based on the type of hand you played, the types of cards you started with, the type of contract you bid, and more. To learn how the game value works, see Skat Scoring. The game ends after a certain number of hands, or when one player reaches a certain number of points, depending on your game settings.

Rules Summary Three players bid for the chance to play (see Bidding); the winner of the bid is the declarer. The declarer then decides whether or not to pick up the skat. The declarer then picks a game contract (see Contracts): either diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades (a suited game), a grand game, or a null game. If the declarer did not pick up the skat (or if the Always Allow Announcements game option is on), he or she can also make one of three optional announcements--schneider, schwarz, or open. (If the declarer picked a null game, he or she can select open to play a null open game.) See Announcements for more information. The other two players (the defenders) become a team to try to keep the declarer from making his or her bid. The player to the left of the dealer leads a card, and players play cards from their hands to each trick. Tricks are taken as described in Playing the Game. After all the tricks are taken, the declarer and defenders count their card points (see Card Points) and determine the scores (see Skat Scoring).

Bidding Skat uses a special bidding system; bidding occurs between the three players identified as Forehand, Middlehand, and Rearhand. Rearhand is the dealer, Forehand is the player to his or her left, and Middlehand is the player to Forehand's right. (After each hand, the deal rotates clockwise.) Click here for a picture: In bidding, Forehand is considered senior to Middlehand, who is in turn senior to Rearhand. A senior bidder need only match the bid of a junior bidder when bidding, and does not need to increase it, where a junior bidder always needs to increase the bid of a senior bidder when bidding.

How the bid proceeds: 1 Middlehand starts the bidding and can either suggest a bid to Forehand or pass. If Middlehand bids, Forehand can either match the bid (go to step 2) or pass (go to step 3). If Middlehand passes, Rearhand gets a chance to bid (go to step 4). 2 If Forehand matches Middlehand's bid, Middlehand can either increase the bid (in which case Forehand can match it again, until one of them passes), or pass. 3 The winning bid (of either Middlehand or Forehand) is presented to Rearhand, who, being junior to both Middlehand and Forehand, must increase the bid to stay in the bidding. The senior bidder need only match Rearhand's bid; again, bidding continues until one player passes. The remaining player is the declarer. 4 If Middlehand didn't bid, Rearhand can either bid or pass. If Rearhand bids, Forehand can match the bid (in which case Rearhand must increase it or pass) or pass. Bidding continues until either Rearhand or Forehand passes; the remaining player is the declarer. 5 If Rearhand passes (all players have passed), the hand is redealt, unless the Ramsch game option is on, in which case players play a game of Ramsch.

Understanding Bidding Players bid (or match) numbers based on the game value. For suited and grand games, the game value is a formula based on what contract you bid, which cards you started the game with, whether you played with or without the skat, and other items. Possible bid numbers are 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 40, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 54, 55, 59, 60, and so on. It is usually best to bid the minimum bid you can make (and still beat others' bids); there is no benefit to bidding high. For null games, the game value can be any of the above numbers, but possible game values you can achieve in null games are 23 for null games, 35 for null hand games (played without the skat), 46 for null Open games (played open), and 59 for null open hand games (played open without the skat). Therefore, if you plan to play a null game, do not bid higher than the possible game value for the null game you plan to play. To learn how the game value works in detail, see Skat Scoring. Although the bidding system in Skat may seem complex at first, after a few games you will have a better idea how to evaluate your hand. For tips on bidding, see Skat Strategies and Tips.

Picking Up the Skat If you are the declarer, you have a chance to pick up the skat at the start of the game and exchange cards between your hand and the skat, laying down two cards in your taken trick pile. Picking up the skat lets you improve the cards in your hand. You can choose to play a hand game, where you don't pick up or look at the skat. A hand game is worth more points towards your score; see Skat Scoring. Important: Whether you play with the skat or without (a hand game), the cards in the skat still count towards your card points.

Contracts (Game Types) If you win the bid, there are three different types of contracts you can choose to play. Suited The suit you specify (diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades) becomes trump, and jacks (J) serve as the highest trumps in that suit. Trump cards are ranked in this order: J , J , J , J , followed by A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7 of the trump suit. The other suits are also ranked in the order A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7. Therefore, if you chose a contract of hearts, trump cards would be these cards, ranked in this order: J , J , J , J , A , 10 , K , Q , 9 , 8 , 7 To win a hand, you must take at least 61 card points; you lose if your opponents get 60 or more points. Grand The four jacks (J) are the only trump cards, and serve as their own suit. They are ranked in the same order as above: J , J , J , J . Other cards are ranked in the order A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7. To win a hand, you must take at least 61 card points; you lose if your opponents get 60 or more points. Null There are no trumps, and cards are ranked in a different order than in the other two contracts: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7. To win a hand, you must lose every trick. (If you win a single trick, the hand ends immediately.) Announcements If you decide to play a hand game (play your original hand without picking up the skat, or if the Always Allow Announcements game option is on, there are several announcements you can make: Schneider You will take at least 90 card points in the hand. Schwarz You will win all the tricks in the hand. Open You will win all the tricks in the hand, and must play with all of your cards exposed to the other players. Null Open The only announcement you can make in null contracts. You will lose all the tricks in the hand, and must play with all of your cards exposed to the other players. Note that an announcement of schwarz implies an announcement of schneider, and an announcement of Open implies an announcement of both schneider and schwarz. Important: If you get schneider or schwarz during the game without declaring them, you'll still get game points for them, but announcing them beforehand gets you more game points (and costs you more game points if you don't achieve them). Indicators for schneider, schwarz, and open appear on the announcing players' nameplates.

Card Points There are 120 possible points in a hand; point values for each card are shown below. In suited and grand games, you need 61 points to win a hand, and getting 90 points gives you the schneider bonus. Card points are irrelevant in null games. Card Points A: 11 10: 10 K: 4 Q: 3 J: 2 All other cards: 0 Resigning If you are the declarer, and you pick up the skat, which contains a jack that decreases the number of matadors you have (thus reducing your chance of making your bid), you can opt to resign the game. You resign the game by clicking the Resign button in the Choose Contract dialog box. When you resign, you lose points as if you had played the game and lost; see Skat Scoring for details. If you are playing a hand game, or if the jack in the skat does not decrease the number of matadors in your hand, the Resign button is not available.

Schenken If the schenken option is turned on in the game options, either defender can resign at anytime during the hand by announcing schenken (conceding the game to the declarer). To resign, click the schenken button next to your player. When schenken is declared, the hand automatically ends, with the declarer automatically scoring points for winning the game as described below: If the defenders' team has taken 30 or more points, the declarer scores the same points he or she would have had if he or she had won a normal game (without getting schneider or schwarz). Note: If the declarer announced schneider, he or she can't win less than that level. Even if the defenders take 30 or more points, if they announce schenken, the declarer will get points for achieving schneider, even though he or she didn't get it. If the defenders' team has not yet taken 30 points, the declarer will also be credited with a schneider. If the defenders' team has not yet taken a trick, the declarer will also be credited with a schwarz. A null game is scored as it would be normally.

Kontra and Re If the Allow Kontra/Re game option is turned on, players can choose to increase the value of the game. When this option is on a defender can announce kontra before playing a card to the first trick by clicking the kontra button next to his or her player. Kontra automatically doubles the declarer's final score (whether positive or negative). Therefore, if a kontra game is played, and the declarer would score 23 for achieving a game value of 23, he or she would instead get 46 points added to his or her score. The declarer can then double the stakes again (if desired) by announcing re (clicking the re button next to his or her player). Note that kontra must be announced by the defender before re can be announced. If the declarer wants to announce re, he or she must do so before playing his or her next card after kontra has been said. You can turn on the "Only If Player Bid 18" option to prevent a defender with a good hand from saying kontra unless the defender bid at least 18 (or matched an 18 bid) in the bidding round. An announcement of kontra or re is indicated by an indicator on the announcer's plaque. Note that announcing kontra or re only affects the final score and does not affect the bid that must be achieved.

Gameplay Rules

To play the game: 1 The game starts with a bidding sequence as described in the Bidding section. To sort your cards to help see what contract you might want to play, click the contract name in the Bid dialog; your cards are sorted accordingly (and the game value table at the top of the screen changes accordingly; this helps you decide what your likely game value will be). If you're starting the bidding, click the Bid button (18 is the usual starting bid). If everyone else has passed without bidding, you can only bid 18. To increase the bid to the next possible bid (or higher), click on the up arrow next to the bid number to select a bid, and click the Bid button. To match a bid, click the Accept button. To pass (and drop out of the bidding), click the Pass button. The player who wins the bid is the declarer. If all players pass without bidding, the game is redealt, unless the Ramsch game option is on, in which case a Ramsch game is played. 2 If you're the declarer, you're asked whether you want to pick up the skat. Click Yes to pick up the skat, the two cards in the skat are moved to your hand. You then must move two cards to the skat (these can include the cards you just picked up). To move cards to the skat, right-click each card you want to move, or drag each card to the tray, then click OK when you're ready to proceed. Click No if you don't want to pick up the skat. 3 If you're the declarer, choose your contract (suited, grand, or null) and make any optional announcements (schneider, schwarz, or open) if applicable. The declarer's bid and contract information are shown on his or her nameplate. 4 The Forehand player leads the first card, and each player plays a card to the middle, in clockwise order, by dragging a card to the middle or right-clicking the card. Rules for playing cards are as follows: You can lead any card. You must follow suit if possible. In a grand game, if a jack (J) is led, you must play a jack if you have one. If you can't follow suit, you can play any card. Important: When playing a suited game, it's important to remember that the jacks are members of the named suit, not their original suit. Therefore, if playing a diamonds game, if diamonds are led and you have no diamonds but you have a J , the J is considered a diamond in this hand and you must play it. And similarly, if spades were led in this diamonds game, and you have no other spades, you could not play the J , since the jack is no longer considered a spade. 5 A trick is won by the highest card led, or if a trump was played, by the highest trump. You can review the results of the previous trick as soon as a trick is completed; click the Review Last Trick button at the lower right corner of the screen to see the cards played on the last trick. You can also do this at any time by clicking Review Last Trick on the Actions menu. 6 The player who won the trick leads a card, and play continues until all cards have been played. At the end of the game, a scoring dialog box shows the card points won by the declarer, whether the declarer won the hand, whether the declarer made his or her bid, and the game points won or lost by the declarer. See Skat Scoring for details on how scoring works. You can review all of the tricks in the game by clicking the Review button. You'll see the cards for each player, and can click the arrows to step through the hand trick by trick, seeing which card was led in each trick and who won. Click Done when you're done reviewing tricks. Click OK when you're done examining the score; the deal (and the position of each player) rotates clockwise. The game ends after a certain number of hands, or when one player reaches a certain number of points, depending on your game settings.

Notes In an open game, your cards are revealed before the first card is led. In a null game, if the declarer wins a single trick, the game stops immediately.

Playing a Ramsch Game A game of Ramsch or Schieberamsch can be played if everyone passes when bidding. Ramsch is essentially a "loser takes all" game where the player who takes the most card points loses. Each player plays for himself or herself, there are no declarers or defenders.

Ramsch Ramsch is played the same way as a grand game, with the four jacks (J , J , J , J ) as a separate trump suit, only each player is trying to take as few card points as possible. When playing Ramsch, no one picks up the skat. The Forehand player leads. Depending on your game options, the skat either goes to the winner of the last trick or the person who lost (by taking the most card points). In the first case, where the skat goes to the winner of the last trick, the card points in the skat count towards the card point total for winning or losing, but in the second case, where the skat goes to the person who lost, the card points in the skat don't count toward the card point total. The player who takes the most card points loses the hand. Scoring Ramsch The player who loses the round (by taking the most card points) normally has the amount of card points he or she took, (plus card points for cards in the skat, depending on your game options) deducted from his or her score. If two players tie for taking the most card points, both players lose the same amount. However, certain multipliers may be applied in certain special circumstances: If any player doesn't take any tricks (is a "virgin") the amount the loser loses is doubled (x2). If there are two virgins (the "losing" player wins all the tricks), this is known as Shooting the Moon (Durchmarsch). If this happens, the player who took all the tricks wins 120 points! This option allows a player forced into a Ramsch game with good cards a chance to win the game. The Shooting the Moon option can be turned off, in which case the amount the losing player loses is quadrupled (x4).

Schieberamsch Scheiberamsch is a variation of Ramsch that is played like Ramsch with two differences. 1) Before playing Ramsch, each player in turn is offered a last chance to try to play his hand as a normal grand game. (This last chance is given because your hand may be good enough to beat two "poor" hands.) There is no bidding at this point; rather, the first player to say they will play a grand hand becomes the declarer, playing against the other two players. This grand game is played as a hand game (skat is not offered to any player), and is considered to have a minimum bid (18). The only other difference from a normal grand game is that the declarer automatically gets the skat at the end of the hand, and those card points count towards the player's card points. 2) If all players pass on the chance to play a grand game, a Ramsch game is played, but first, each player has the chance to exchange cards from their hand to the skat. Each player in turn, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, gets to pick up the skat and trade cards from it. (The second player gets the skat with the discarded cards of the first, and so on.) In this game, Jacks cannot be put into the skat, although they can be picked up from it. You can choose not to pick up the skat; each time a player chooses not to pick up the skat, the value of the current hand is doubled (any doubling values are shown at the top of the screen).

Scoring Schieberamsch At the end of a hand of Schieberamsch (if a grand game was not played), the player with the most card points in his hand and the skat loses the hand. His or her card points are multiplied by any special multipliers for virgins (as in a regular game of Ramsch) as well as any multipliers for players' passing on the skat. Example: if Eric gets 115 card points, there was one virgin (x2), and two players passed the skat (x4, x8), Eric gets 1,020 points deducted from his score: 115 x 8 = 1,020. If the losing player shot the moon, however (and the Shooting the Moon option was on), the player instead gets 120 times any special multipliers (as described above) added to his or her score.

Game Options You can set the rules for the game, how the game is set up, and how the game is played. You can change all the options before the game begins. Once the game has begun, changing some options may require you to restart the game.

To set game rules and options: 1 Click the Skat Settings menu item on the Options menu. 2 Make the changes you want. 3 Click OK to save your changes.

Option Description Card Sorting Sets how cards in your hand are sorted. Click Ascending to sort cards from lowest to highest, by suit, or Descending to sort cards from highest to lowest, by suit. Allow Finish Hand Early Ends the hand early if you will win all of the remaining tricks. Allow Schenken Lets either defender resign before playing a card to the first trick. Allow Kontra/Re Lets players double the value of the game by saying kontra and re early in the game. Check Only if Player Bid 18 to prevent a defender from saying kontra unless the defender bid at least 18 (or matched an 18 bid) in the bidding round. Always Allow Announcements Allows a player to make a schneider, schwarz, or open announcement even if he or she picked up the skat. This is a non-standard way to play the game. Uncheck this option to only allow these announcements during hand games (where the declarer did not pick up the skat). Show Card/Game Value Tables Displays a table showing the values of cards, trumps, and card ordering as well as a description of game scoring. Show Card Points Taken Displays a running count of the card points taken by each player during the game. Show Legal Plays/ Winning Cards On your turn, marks the cards that you can legally play and that may help you win the trick. End of Game Sets when the game ends; you can set the game to end after a number of hands (the player with the most points wins) or after a player reaches a certain number of points. Ramsch Options Sets whether you wish to play a Ramsch game when all players pass up the chance to bid. Ramsch is essentially a "loser takes all" game where the player who takes the most card points loses. See Playing a Ramsch Game for details. Select None to play a normal game (no Ramsch), select Ramsch to play a game of Ramsch, and select Schieberamsch to play the Schieberamsch variant of Ramsch. You can also set options for who gets the points in the skat (Skat taken by…) and for whether to Allow Shoot the Moon (giving points to a player who manages to take all the card points). Difficulty Level Sets the difficulty for the game to Easy, Normal, or Hard.

See Also Skat Scoring Skat Strategies and Tips Skat Background Bidding Diagram Matadors How many trumps you have or don't have, in an unbroken sequence, starting with the highest jack, J . Matadors include cards in your original hand, plus cards in the skat. Cards in the skat count towards your matadors even if you are playing a hand game (and didn't get to see the skat). Matadors are either with you or against you. If you have the J , you are with 1 matador, plus however many trump you have in sequence. If you don't have the J , you are against 1 matador, plus however many trump you don't have in sequence. Examples: If you have J but no J , you are with 1 matador. If you have J , J but no J , you are with 2 matadors. If you have J , J , J , but no J , you are with 3 matadors. If you have J , J , J , J , but no A of trump, you are with 4 matadors. If you have J , J , J , J , and A of trump, but no 10 of trump, you are with 5 matadors. and so on... If your highest trump is J (you don't have J ), you are against 1 matador. If your highest trump is J (you don't have J or J ), you are against 2 matadors. If your highest trump is J (you don't have J , J , or J ), you are against 3 matadors. If you don't have any Jacks, and your highest trump is A of trump, you are against 4 matadors. If you don't have any Jacks, and your highest trump is 10 of trump, you are against 5 matadors. and so on... Open You play the game with all of your cards face up on the table. In an open game, you must take all the tricks to win. (In a null open game, you must lose all the tricks to win.) Schneider The declarer gets a schneider if he or she (or the other team) gets 90 or more card points in the hand. If the schneider was declared before the hand started, it is worth an extra game point. Schwarz The declarer gets a schwarz if he or she (or the other team) wins every trick in the game. If the schwarz was declared before the hand started, it is worth an extra game point. Skat A pile of two cards the declarer can pick up (if desired) at the start of the hand. The declarer must then discard two cards from his or her hand. A game played with the skat is called a skat game; a game without it is called a hand game (because you're playing with your original hand). Trump (in Skat) Trump cards are cards that when played, always beat non-trump cards. In grand games, all four jacks are trump; in suited games, all four jacks are trump as well as the A-10-K-Q-9-8-7 of the suit the declarer makes trump. In null games, there are no trump cards. Ramsch games use the same trump as grand games. Skat Scoring Suited and grand games are scored differently than null games. Only the declarer's score is affected.

Suited and Grand Games In suited and grand games, how you score (if you're the declarer) depends on whether or not you win the hand and whether or not your game value (see the section below) is greater than or equal to the amount you bid. To win the hand, you must get 61 or more card points (for a standard game), or 90 or more card points if you bid schneider. If you declared schwarz or open, you must also win every trick to win the hand.

Calculating the game value The game value, calculated after each hand, is a formula based on what contract you bid, which cards you started the game with, whether you played with or without the skat, and other items. Game Value=Multiplier x Base Value Multiplier= +1 pt for each matador +1 pt for game (you always get this point) +1 pt for hand (you get this point if you play without the skat) +1 pt for schneider +1 pt for schneider declared (see the Contracts section for information on declaring schneider) +1 pt for schwarz +1 pt for schwarz declared (see the Contracts section for information on declaring schwarz) +1 pt for open Base Value= diamonds=9, hearts=10, spades=11, clubs=12, grand=24

How the Scoring Works If you win the hand and your game value is greater than or equal to your bid, your game value is added to your score. If you lose the hand and your game value is greater than or equal to your bid, twice the game value is subtracted from your score. If your game value is less than your bid (regardless of whether you won or lost), you lose twice the amount of the lowest possible game value that would have fulfilled the contract you bid. Example: You bid 23, and you played diamonds, but at the end of the game, your game value was only 18. Possible game values of a diamonds game (which has a base value of 9) are 18 (9 x 2), 27 (9 x 3), 36 (9 x 4), and so on. The lowest game value that would allow you to make your bid is 27, so you would lose 54 points (27 x 2). If you bid 30 in the same game, you would have needed a game value of 36, so you would lose 72 (36 x 2). If you resign a game, you lose points as if you played the game. However, since you hadn't chosen a contract before resigning, a contract (and game value) are picked for you so that you will lose the least possible points. In most cases, you will lose twice your bid. When your score is shown at the end of a hand, Skat uses a scoring "shorthand" to show your score added up. If you played a diamonds hand game, had 2 matadors, and got schneider, your score would be shown like this: Game worth 36 (With 2, game 3, schneider 4 times diamonds 9)

Click here for scoring examples:

Notes: Getting a schwarz gives you an automatic schneider, and getting open gives you an automatic schneider and schwarz. Similarly, announcing schwarz gives you an automatic point for announcing schneider (as well as the point for announcing schwarz), and announcing open gives you three points for announcing open, schneider, and schwarz). If you declare and/or get schneider or schwarz, you get points added to the multiplier regardless of whether or not you won the hand. Losing the hand (or failing to achieve the game value you bid) means these points count against you. In any game, you are guaranteed a multiplier of 2 (1 for game, and at least 1 matador), so the lowest possible bid for any game is 18 (2 x 9 for a diamonds game). All bids are based on possible game values.

Null Games In null games, you get a flat positive or negative score based on whether you win or lose the game. If you win the game (by not taking any tricks), you get a flat score of 23 points for regular null games (a null game played with the skat), 35 for null hand games (a null game played without the skat), 46 for null open games (a null game played face up with the skat), and 59 for null open hand games (a null game played face up without the skat). (This means that you should not bid more than 23 if you're planning to play a null game, or 35 if you're planning to play a null hand game, and so on.) If you lose a null game (by taking one trick), you lose twice your bid. For null you'd lose 46, for null hand you'd lose 70, and for null open you'd lose 96, and for null open hand you'd lose 118.

Back to… How to Play Skat Scoring Examples Madeline bid 30, and plays a suited game, bidding spades. She plays with the skat. In Cases 1, 2, and 3, she was without 2 matadors after picking up the skat. Case 1: She wins the hand, taking 62 points. She is without 2 matadors, and no one got schneider or schwarz. She is without 2, game 3 times 11 (for spades)=33. Since her game value is greater than her bid, 33 is added to her score. Case 2: She wins the hand, taking 91 points. She is without 2 matadors, and got schneider. She is without 2, game 3, schneider 4 times 11=44. Since her game value is greater than her bid, 44 is added to her score. Case 3: She loses the game, taking 59 points. She is without 2 matadors, and no one got schneider or schwarz. She is without 2, game 3 times 11=33. Since she lost the hand, 66 (33 x 2) is subtracted from her score.

In Cases 4 and 5, she was with 1 matador after picking up the skat (the skat contained J ). Case 4: She loses the game, taking 59 points. She is with 1 matador, and no one got schneider or schwarz. She is with 1, game 2 times 11=22. Since her game value of 22 is less than her bid of 30, she loses points from her score. The lowest possible game value that she could have achieved to make her bid of 30 with a contract of spades is 33 (a multiplier of 3 x spades' base value of 11), so she loses 66 points (33 x 2). Case 5: She wins the game, taking 62 points. She is with 1 matador, and no one got schneider or schwarz. She is with 1, game 2 times 11=22. The scoring is identical to case 5, even though she won the game. Since her game value is less than her bid of 30, she will lose points from her score (see Case 4 above). She loses 66 points (33 x 2), just as she did in Case 4. Skat Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Skat game. All strategies are for suited games unless noted.

Strategies for Bidding Try to calculate exactly how many game points you can get with your hand; by calculating the multipliers and base value you will get when playing your hand, you should be able to figure out the maximum game value you can achieve. When bidding, bid as conservatively as possible (bid as much as you need to in order to win the bid, and no more). There is no point in bidding higher than you need to, as it increases your risk. Do not ever overbid your hand based on what you think you might get in the skat. Be cautious when bidding when you are holding matadors "against." You may pick up a card in the skat that changes your matador count, making it impossible or difficult to make your bid. Bid a suited game when you have at least six trumps, or when you have four or more trumps (with at least one jack) and a strong supporting hand. The more trumps you have, the more important it is to have one or more missing suits (be "void" in suits). The fewer trumps you have, the more important it is that you have strong cards (A, 10) in your supporting suits. A good grand hand is a hand with at least two jacks and a long run of at least one suit with the A and 10, or a hand with at least one jack and all four As. Ideally, a grand is also supported by a void (no cards) in one other suit. This lets you control most of the game (by leading your strong suit) and ensures you are less likely to get trumped. A good null hand is a hand in which you hold the 7 of each suit that you have. It is not recommended that you bid null if you don't have both the 7 and 8 of a particular suit, but do have other higher cards.

Strategies for Putting Cards in the Skat Don't ever put trump cards in the skat. If you have any suits (again, other than trump) that only has one card that's not an ace, or a suit that has only two cards, both below 10, you should put those cards in the skat; this lets you "void" yourself in that suit and enables you to play trump more easily. Voiding yourself in one suit (or two, if you can do it) is very important if you have a lot of trump. If you have any suits with an ace missing, consider putting away the 10, as you can't easily protect it. If you have several comparable choices of cards to put in the skat, put the cards worth the most points in the skat. Strategies for putting cards in the skat in a null game: if you have only one or two cards of a suit, and those cards are higher than 7 or 8, put them away. Always put away the highest card possible.

Strategies for the Declarer If you bid because you have a long run of trump, lead trump as often as possible to get trump away from the opponents and keep control of play. Lead trump in order from the highest you have to the lowest, if you're sure of winning. When you're not sure of winning, consider leading a low point card in a suit you're trying to void. If you bid because you have strong supporting suits, lead your strong suits as early as possible (if you have A and 10 in a suit, lead both of those in order to assure yourself of those points). Leading them early reduces the chances that these high points will be trumped.

Strategies for the Defenders Guard your aces and 10s closely. Always give the declarer a king or other face card in preference to one of these high point value cards. Similarly, if the other defender plays a card you know will win the trick, take the opportunity to throw your aces and 10s (or other high point cards) onto the trick so that the declarer won't get them, even if your hand becomes weaker as a result. Try to keep track of which suits the declarer still has cards in, since you might want to lead those suits when you're forced to lead.

See Also How to Play Skat Skat Background Skat is the national card game of Germany. It is unusual in that it is one of the few card games optimized for three players. Around 1810, in Altenburg in Thuringia (a region not far from Leipzig, Germany) members of a local card club were enjoying three-handed games like Tarot and the Spanish game Hombre. Someone introduced the group to Schapkopf, a game popular in Bavaria (itself imported to the U.S. as Sheepshead). Intrigued by Schapkopf but preferring three-handed games, they created Skat, a variation of Schapkopf for three players. Students at the nearby university in Leipzig spread Skat into Germany, and are also the most likely culprits for the addition of the bidding system; prior to that, bidding was simply agreed upon and was not the exciting (and initially mystifying) system used today. Grand and Null bids were added several decades later. German immigrants later brought the game to the U.S. and versions of Skat are played in both the Midwest and Texas. The name Skat comes from the skat, the two cards dealt face down at the start of the game; the word skat comes from the words scartare in Italian and scarter in French meaning "to discard." How to Play Spades

Spades is played by four people in two partnerships. The cards rank ace (the highest) to the deuce (the lowest). Spades are always trump. Each player receives 13 cards dealt one at a time. Bidding and play proceed in a clockwise direction. In the bidding phase you declare the number of tricks you intend to win; in the playing phase you try to win those tricks. The object of the game is to fulfill the total bid by the partnership. Note: In some variations of Spades, cards are passed between players before the hand starts. The Hoyle Card Games version of Spades does not include passing. You may choose to bid nil, meaning you intend not to win any tricks. Before you even pick up your cards, you may bid double nil. This is the same as a nil bid, except that all rewards and penalties are doubled. If one or both players in a partnership bid nil, their bids are scored independently, then combined to determine the partnership's score. Note: Not all Spades games use bags, but Hoyle Card Games does. Every point in excess of your total bid counts as one bag. If you collect 10 bags, you lose 100 points. When your nil or double nil bid gets set, any tricks you take count as bags, but you are not given a point for these bags, as you would be for bags taken in a non-nil bid. You must follow suit if you can, otherwise you may take the trick with a trump card or discard something from a non-trump suit. If you're void in the suit that was led, you can play trump, or any other card. Spades cannot be led until they've been broken (until they've been used to trump an earlier lead). A trick is always won by the highest trump, and if no trump is played, by the highest card of the suit led. If you make your bid you receive 10 points for each trick bid, one point for each trick above the bid. If you are set (you fail to make your bid), you lose 10 points for each trick bid. A nil bid counts for 100 points if you succeed, 100 against if you fail. Double nil is 200. The game ends when a partnership wins 500 points or loses by going under -300 or more points. If both partnerships go under -300 in the same hand, the partnership with the lower score loses.

Playing the Game 1 First, select the number of tricks you intend to win (the object of the game is to fulfill the total bid with your partner). Click Show Hand to see the cards in your hand and decide on your bid (you cannot bid double nil once you see your cards). 2 To make a bid, click a numbered square. You also can decide to bid nil after you see your cards (click Bid Nil). 3 The player to the left of the dealer begins play. 4 On your turn, click the card you want to play and drag it to its open spot on the table, then drop it there. Or, right-click the card to automatically place it on the table. Game Options You have the option of setting whether the game is finished automatically, the winning and losing scores, card sorting, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Spades Settings on the Options menu. For help on these options, see the help area in the Options dialog box.

See Also Spades Strategies and Tips Spades Background Spades Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your spades game: Remember that spades is a TEAM game. If your partner bids nil, try not to lead a trick with a low card that might send him or her up. If it's late in the hand and your partner still needs a trick to make his or her bid, do it yourself! If your partner leads a trick with a high card, don't play a high card in that suit (unless you've bid nil, or if it's your last card in that suit). Trump cards are useful not only for taking tricks, but also as your "reentry." Once you've trumped in and taken a trick, you lead the next trick. In this way you can steer the game in the direction that most benefits your partnership. If you hold the king and queen of a particular suit, lead one. It will either win or be topped by the ace, in which case your other card becomes the suit leader and an eventual trick-winner. Bidding nil with four trumps in your hand is chancy but doable, provided the trumps are low (including a 2, 3, or 4, and with nothing above 9 or 10). An even distribution of trumps (4-3-3-3) spells doom for your bid. Even a close to even distribution (4-4-3-2) could be trouble. Best for you is if another player holds five or more trumps and/or one player has none at all. The odds are very much against you when bidding nil with a face-card trump (K-Q-J) in your hand. Even if you have two or more low trumps to defend it, you're dead if the highest trumps come out unexpectedly. You should try to avoid taking extra tricks and accumulating bags, since the penalty is so great. However, if you do collect 10 bags, it'll usually take so long to collect another 10 that you can stop worrying about extra tricks.

See Also How to Play Spades Spades Background Spades was most likely developed simultaneously with Whist as a simpler form of that game. Whereas Whist was replaced by Bridge, nothing ever came along to replace Spades. According to the United States Playing Card Company, Spades ranks as the number-one card game among American college students. How to Play Tarot Rules Gameplay Tarot is a French trick-taking game typically played with four players. Tarot uses a special 78-card deck that was the precursor to the popular fortune-telling tarot decks. The Tarot deck consists of the four customary suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) with 14 cards in each suit, ranked in this order: R (roi), D (dame), C (cavalier), V (valet), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The deck also includes a 21-card trump suit (the "picture" cards numbered 1-21), and a special card called the excuse. The excuse, the 1 of trump, and the 21 of trump are special cards known as bouts. Each player is dealt 18 cards, and 6 cards are dealt to a separate pile called the chien. The object of the game is to get points by bidding and making your bid (or by preventing others from making their bids). To make a bid, you must take enough cards of certain values. The game ends when one player reaches a certain number of points, or after a certain number of hands, depending on your game settings.

Rules Summary A round of bidding starts the game. Possible bids are Prise (Take), Garde (Guard), Garde Sans (Guard without), and Garde Contre (Guard against). For more on bids, see the Bids section. The player with the highest bid is the "taker", and the three other players become a team (the "defenders") to try to keep the taker from making his or her bid. If the taker bid Prise or Garde, he or she picks up the chien. The taker (and sometimes defenders) can make other optional declarations, if possible: chelem, poignée, and misère (see the Bids section). One player leads a card, and players play cards from their hands to each trick. Tricks are taken as described in the Gameplay section. After all tricks are taken, the taker counts the points in his or her taken cards to see if the bid was achieved, and scoring occurs as described in Tarot Scoring.

Bids in Tarot In Tarot, you bid if you think you can take sufficient card points during a hand. The amount of card points you need depends on what cards you manage to take; see Card Points. The possible bids are listed in order, below. Each player has only one chance to bid.

Bid Value Meaning Prise (Take) x1 You get to pick up the chien, taking the cards into your hand and then discarding six cards. Garde (Guard) x2 The same bid as Prise, but at increased stakes (you gain or lose two times the points). Garde Sans (Guard x4 No one sees the chien, but the chien counts for you. without) Garde Contre (Guard x6 No one sees the chien, but the chien counts for the defenders. against) In addition to these bids, players may be able to make one or more special declarations: Chelem (Slam): You're declaring that you will take all the tricks. This is a risky declaration; you win 400 points if you make it, but lose 200 points if you don't. If you happen to take all of the tricks without making this declaration, you score 200 points anyway. Only the taker can make this declaration. Poignée: You have a single poignée (10 or more trumps), a double poignée (13 or more trumps), or a triple poignée (15 or more trump). You must show the poignée to the other players before playing. If you hold the excuse, it can be counted towards your poignée, but only if you don't have enough trumps otherwise. A poignée is worth 20 points (for a single), 30 points (for a double), or 40 points (for a triple). Note: You can declare poignée as either taker or defender. Misère: This is an optional declaration; to allow this option, turn on the Allow Misère Declarations option in the game options. If you're dealt a hand with no court cards (R, D, C, or V) or no trumps, you can declare misère. This declaration can be made whether you are the taker or a defender. Declaring this adds 30 points to the declarer's score, and deducts 10 points from the score of the other three players, regardless of who the taker and defenders are and regardless of the outcome of the hand. (This is independent of the normal hand scoring.) Declarations made by players are shown by indicators on the player nameplates.

Picking up the Chien If you bid Prise or Garde, you pick up the chien, taking the cards from it into your hand. You must then lay down six cards from your hand; these cards are laid face down and will count for you at the end of the game. You cannot lay down any trump cards, any bouts, or any roi (R) cards. (In the rare case where you have so many trump in your hand that you must put trump back in the chien, the trump cards must be shown to the defenders.) If you bid Garde Sans or Garde Contre, no one gets to look at the chien; the chien cards count towards your taken cards (for Garde Sans) or the defenders' taken cards (for Garde Contre).

Card Points There are 91 card points possible in a hand. Most cards (1-10 of any of the four suits, and most of the trump cards) are only worth one half point (0.5).

Card Points Bouts: 4.5 R (roi): 4.5 D (dame): 3.5 C (cavalier): 2.5 V (valet): 1.5 All other cards: 0.5

The points you need to win a hand depend on how many of the bouts you manage to take. Note that bouts include cards in the tricks you take, as well as any cards in the chien (unless you bid Garde Contre, in which case the cards in the chien belong to the defenders' team).

If you take… You need this many card points to make your bid… 3 bouts 36 card points 2 bouts 41 card points 1 bout 51 card points 0 bouts 56 card points

Bonus points: Petit Au Bout If either the taker or one of the defenders takes the 1 of trump on the last trick, they receive a special 10 point bonus known as the petit au bout. See Tarot scoring for more information.

Gameplay Rules

To play the game: 1 The game starts with a bidding round; the player to the right of the dealer starts the bidding. On your turn, click one of the four possible bids, or click Pass. Each player in turn can either pass or increase the bid; once a player has passed, he or she can't bid again. If all players pass, the cards are redealt, and the deal rotates. 2 If the bid is Prise or Garde, the chien is shown to all the players (click OK when you are done viewing it). Or, if you are the taker, click OK to pick up the chien, and then discard six cards from your hand: drag cards into the tray and click OK when you are done. If you are the taker, you can also declare chelem at this time by clicking the chelem check box in the chien tray. 3 Other declarations (poignée, misère) may be made by players at this time. If it is possible for you to make any of these declarations, a box appears; select any declarations you wish to make, and click OK. If you make a poignée declaration, 10, 13, or 15 cards are automatically placed in the center tray. If you have a choice of trump cards to show, you can drag cards to and from your hand. Click OK when you're ready to show the cards to the other players. 4 Play starts with the player to the dealer's right (unless the taker declares chelem, in which case he or she leads); each player plays a card to the middle, in turn. To play a card, drag it to the middle or right-click it. Play is counter-clockwise. Rules for playing cards are as follows: You can lead any card. The excuse can be played at any time, regardless of the card led. If the excuse is led, it is ignored, and the second card played is considered the lead for the trick. You must follow suit if possible (or play the excuse). If you can't follow suit and you hold a trump card, you must play it (or play the excuse). If you can't follow suit and don't hold trump, you can play any card (including the excuse). When you play a trump card, you must always overtrump: you must, if possible, play a trump card higher than the highest trump card played so far. (If you don't have a higher trump card, you can play any trump card.) 5 The trick is won by the player who plays the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump card was played, in which case the player who played the highest trump card wins the trick. Note that the excuse, unless it is played in the last trick (see the Notes section below for details) cannot win a trick. However, the team that played it gets points for it, regardless of which team won the trick. If the team that played the excuse won the trick (because another team member played a winning card), that team gets the full 4.5 points for it. But if the team who played the excuse lost the trick, that team still gets 4 points for the excuse (and it still counts as 1 bout for that team), while the team who won the trick gets 0.5 points (the value of the lowest card in the game) in exchange. 6 The player who won the trick leads the next card, and play continues. You can review the results of the previous trick as soon as a trick is completed; click the Review Last Trick button at the lower right corner of the screen to see the cards played on the last trick. You can also do this at any time by clicking Review Last Trick on the Actions menu. The hand ends when all cards have been played. The taker's card points are then counted, and points are then scored or deducted from each player's score, depending on whether the taker made his or her bid. See the Tarot Scoring section for details. To review the hand in detail, viewing each trick that was played, click the Review Tricks button in the scoring dialog box. You'll see the initial cards for each player, and can click the right arrow to step through the hand trick by trick, seeing which card was led in each trick, who won, and how many points were taken. Click and hold down the Original button to see the cards that were originally in the chien. Click Done when you're done reviewing tricks. The deal rotates counterclockwise, and play continues until the game ends.

Notes and Tips: For help on which cards you can play to a trick, turn on the Show Legal Plays option in the game settings. Chelem can be declared either during the bidding phase (for bids of Garde Sans or Garde Contre) or during the chien exchange (for bids of Prise or Garde). If the cards you're dealt allow you to make a poignée or misère declaration, you can make these declarations before you play a card to the first trick. (You can change the game options to require all declarations to be made before anyone in the game plays a card to a trick.) In the rare case that a player is dealt the 1 of trump and no other trump cards (and is also not dealt the excuse), the game is redealt, since that player has such a weak hand and it is very difficult for him or her to win the 1 of trump whether declarer or defender. Special situations apply if the excuse is played in the last trick of the hand. The excuse is taken by the player who wins the trick, either taker or defender (scoring its full 4.5 points, and counting as 1 bout for that player's team); no points are given for it in exchange). If the excuse is led as the first card in the last trick, and the team that led it has won the previous 17 tricks, the excuse wins the trick. (This latter rule is a matter of fairness: it allows a player to get a chelem even if he or she holds the excuse.) If a player has taken the first 16 tricks (is trying for a chelem), and takes the 1 of trump on the next to last trick, and the excuse on the last trick, that player gets the petit au bout bonus (in addition to the chelem bonus) even though the 1 of trump was not played on the last trick. This lets a player who holds both the 1 of trump and the excuse make a chelem and still get the petit au bout bonus. (Note that it is also possible for a player to make a chelem, play the excuse in the last trick, and win the 1 of trump in that last trick from a defender. In this case, the player gets the petit au bout bonus for taking the 1 of trump in the last trick, as usual.)

Game Options You can set the rules for the game, how the game is set up, and how the game is played. You can change all the options before the game begins. Once the game has begun, changing some options may require you to restart the game.

To set game rules and options: 1 Click the Tarot Settings menu item on the Options menu. 2 Make the changes you want. 3 Click OK to save your changes.

Option Description Allow Finish Hand Early Ends the hand early if you will win all of the remaining tricks. This only occurs if the excuse and the 1 of trump have already been played to a trick. Taker Always Leads First Trick Makes the taker lead the first card to the first trick, regardless of who dealt. Uncheck this option to always have the player to the dealer's right lead the trick (except in the case of chelem, where the player declaring chelem always leads). Allow Misère Declarations Allows players with no trumps or court cards (R, D, C, or V) to declare misère and get extra points. See Bids in Tarot for more details. Make All Declarations Before Playing Requires players to make all declarations before any player plays a card to the first trick. Uncheck this option to let each player wait to declare options until just before he or she plays a card to the first trick. Show Points Taken Displays a running count of the points taken by each player during the game. Show Card Point Values Displays a table showing the card point values of cards in the game. Show Legal Plays On your turn, marks the cards that you can legally play. End of Game Sets when the game ends; you can set the game to end after a player reaches a certain number of points, or after a certain number of hands (the player with the most points wins). Difficulty Level Sets the difficulty for the game to Easy, Normal, or Hard. Card Sorting Sets how cards in your hand are sorted. Click Ascending to sort cards from lowest to highest, by suit, or Descending to sort cards from highest to lowest, by suit.

See Also Tarot Scoring Tarot Strategies and Tips Tarot Background Bouts Pronounced "Boo". Sometimes known as oudlers. The bouts are the three most valuable cards in Tarot: the 1 of trump, the 21 of trump, and the excuse.

Taking these cards in tricks reduces the number of card points required to make your bid. Chien A pile of six cards the taker picks up (if his or her bid allows) at the start of the hand. The taker must then lay down six cards from his or her hand. If you bid Prise, Garde, or Garde Sans, cards in the chien (or discarded to the chien) count towards your game score. Chelem A special bonus you get for taking all 18 tricks. You can declare chelem at the beginning of the game to get twice as many points, but declaring chelem means you risk losing points. Excuse One of the special bout cards, sometimes called the Fool.

The excuse can be played at any time and is usually taken by the person who played it, regardless of who wins the trick. (See the Gameplay section for details.) Misère A declaration you can make if you're dealt a hand with no court cards (R, D, C, or V) or no trumps. Misère gives you extra points whether you're taker or defender. Petit Au Bout A special bonus for taking the 1 of trump on the last trick. Either the taker or the defenders can get petit au bout. Poignée A special bonus you get for having 10 or more trump cards. See the Bids section for more information. Trump (in Tarot) A special suit of cards. In some other games, trump can be any suit, but in Tarot the trump suit is a suit all its own. Trump cards always beat non-trump cards. You must play a trump card, if possible, when you're out of the suit that was led. Tarot Scoring In Tarot, you score points depending on how much you exceeded, or didn't exceed, the points you needed to win. The basic formula for scoring in Tarot is: (25+[card points gained or lost] +[10 or -10 points for petit au bout, if any]) x (bid value of 1, 2, 4, or 6) + (20, 30, or 40 points for any poignées declared) + (400, -200, or 200 points for a chelem, if any)

The different parts of the score are explained in detail below.

Card points gained or lost: The difference between the points the taker made and the points the taker needed to make. Points for a petit au bout: +10 points if the taker got petit au bout and made his or her contract; or if the defenders got petit au bout and the taker didn't make his or her contract. -10 points if the defenders got petit au bout and the taker made his or her contract, or if the taker got petit au bout and the taker didn't make his or her contract. Bid value: A multiplier based on your bid: x1 for Prise, x2 for Garde, x4 for Garde Sans, and x6 for Garde Contre. Points for a poignée: 20 points for a single poignée (10 trump), 30 points for a double poignée (13 trump), and 40 points for a triple poignée (15 trump). If a defender declared poignée, the points are also added to the score, since the game is then worth more. Points for a chelem: +400 points if the taker declared chelem and got it. +200 points if the taker got chelem without declaring it. -200 points if the taker declared chelem and didn't get it, but won the hand. +200 points if the taker declared chelem, and didn't get it but did not win the hand. (Points are added in this case as a penalty, since three times the base score will be deducted from the taker's score.)

How the Scoring Works If the taker wins the hand, he or she gets three times the base score added to his or her cumulative score, and each defender gets the base score subtracted from his or her score. If the taker fails to win the hand, he or she gets three times the base score subtracted from his or her cumulative score, and each defender gets the base score added to his or her score.

Click here for scoring examples:

Note: Declaring misère adds 30 points to the declarer's score, and deducts 10 points from the score of each other player, regardless of who the takers and defenders are, and regardless of the outcome of the hand.

Back to… How to Play Tarot Scoring Examples Louise wins a game with 55 points. She bid Garde, and was able to take petit au bout (the 1 of trump on the last trick). She did not get or make any other special bonuses (chelem, poignée). She had 1 bout, so needed 51 card points to win. Louise's base score is: 25 + 4 (the difference between 51 and 55) = 29 + 10 (for her petit au bout) = 39 x 2 (for Garde bid) = 78 So Louise scores 78 x 3 = 234, and her opponents each score -78.

If Louise, in the same game, had only gotten 50 points (not enough to win), her base score would be: 25 + 1 (the difference between 50 and 51) = 26 - 10 (for her petit au bout) = 17 x 2 (for Garde bid) = 34 Since she didn't make her bid, she scores 34 x 3 = -102, and her opponents each score 34. Note that the petit au bout is subtracted from her score in this case, so that it helps Louise lose fewer points than she would have lost if she hadn't gotten it. Tarot Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Tarot game.

Bidding Strategies The number of bouts you have is critical. If you don't have any bouts (or only have one), make sure you have a lot of trump and your suited cards are very strong; roi (R) cards are especially useful, as are roi (R) & dame (D) combinations (sometimes called a "big marriage"), and dame (D) & cavalier (C) combinations (sometimes called a "small marriage"), especially if you have four or fewer cards in those suits. Another slightly less important strategy in deciding whether to bid is the number of trump you hold. (Remember that the number of bouts you have is the most important strategy to consider.) If you have eight or more trumps, it is usually worth bidding; otherwise, consider the strength of the trump you hold and the supporting cards. It's usually not a good idea to bid unless you have at least five trump in your hand, not including the excuse.) Another element that makes your hand stronger is holding a suit of four or more cards with a high card of dame (D) or roi (R). Holding a long suit lets you keep control of the play and also helps you get others to play their trump.

Playing Strategies for the Taker Try to get rid of other players' trump by leading cards from your longest suit (ideally this is a suit with one or more high court cards (R, D, C, V)). If you hold both the R and D in a suit, play the R (and then, most of the time, the D) to draw out others' cards in that suit and ensure your points. Lead the lowest trump possible to try to draw out trump. In general, do not play your highest trump until you need to. If you don't have the 1 of trump, try to get it with the following strategy: first lead one or two of your lowest trumps to try to shake out others' trumps, then lead your highest trumps (if you have the 21, 20, and 19, lead them in order). If you hold the excuse, it can be useful to play it when you don't want to play a trump card, and it may be worth holding back for this reason. This is true especially in the case where you're being forced to overtrump (for example, if someone plays the 19, and you hold the 20). This is true for both taker and defenders.

Playing Strategies for the Defenders A good general strategy for a defender is to try to draw out as much of the taker's trump cards as possible. Two good ways to do this are: 1) Lead low cards in suits that you know the taker is already void in (the taker has played all his or her cards in that suit), and 2) Lead cards from your longest suit (the suit you have the most cards in), since the taker is likely to be void in those suits. A key basic strategy: play valuable cards whenever you see one of your partners is going to take a trick; don't hold back a roi (R), dame (D), or other high card if you can play it to a partner's trick. When forced to overtrump (whether taker or defender), always play the lowest trump possible (with the exception of the 1 of trump). This keeps higher trumps in your hand for later. If you have seven or more trump (or six or more strong trump), lead your low trump whenever possible to get the taker to play his or her trump. (If you have only a few trump, however, save them to take tricks that have high point values.) When you're leading, and the taker won't be the last person to play a card, lead a card from your shortest suit (or a suit you think the taker still has cards in), so that the taker will likely have to follow suit and your partners can then take the trick with their high point value cards. If you hold the 21 of trump, and you suspect one of your partners has the 1 of trump, lead the 21 as soon as possible to give your partner a chance to play the 1 of trump. Note that if the taker has made a high bid (Garde Sans or Garde Contre), and you hold the 21, the taker is very likely to have the 1 of trump. If you begin a hand with two or less trump, and you are confident that your partners don't have the 1 of trump (or it's already been played), consider leading trump. This lets you void yourself in trump, which may let you later play high point cards on trump tricks that your partners are winning (since you won't have any trump to play). Again, make sure that neither of your partners holds the 1 of trump, since leading trump might force them to play it, giving the taker an easy chance to take it.

See Also How to Play Tarot

Tarot Background Tarot cards first appeared in Northern Italy sometime between 1425-1450. Contrary to popular legend, tarot cards were not brought to Europe by gypsies (although they were later adopted by gypsies for fortune telling). Surprisingly, there is not much evidence that tarot cards were intended for fortune telling or divination, as they are so commonly used today. At any rate, that was not their most widespread use in the 15th century. Instead, tarot cards were used in card games, one of which survives today in the card game Tarot. By the 16th century, tarot cards took on a mystical association, and the card game fell out of popularity with common folk and tarot cards were used exclusively for fortune telling. It is only in the last century that Tarot as a game has enjoyed a revival. The game of Tarot is most popular in France (where it is the second most popular card game, after Belote) and in French-speaking parts of Canada. Variations of Tarot (with names like Tarock, Taroky, and Tarok) are also played in Europe. How to Play Cribbage Cribbage is a game for two to four players; Hoyle Card Games includes the two-player version. You can play against a computer player or a human player. For help on adding and changing players, click here: The game uses the standard 52-card pack. The cards in each suit rank from the king (the highest) down to the ace (the lowest). In counting or numerical value, the king, queen, jack, and 10 each count for 10 (and so are called tenth cards), the ace counts as one, and the other cards count as their face value. The game operates on the principle of matching combinations of cards: pairs, three or more of a kind, flushes, runs (sequences), and groups of cards that add up to 15. Players score points for matching both during and after play (after play, points are totaled for combinations in hand). The first person to score 121 points is the winner. If a player wins by more than 30 points (a skunk), it counts as winning two games. If a player wins by more than 60 points (a double skunk), it counts as winning three games. Cribbage also uses a cribbage board, a rectangular panel with rows of holes that form a sort of track. At one end, or in the center, you'll find four additional holes, called game holes. Each player has two pegs, which are placed at the start in the game holes. After each hand, the player advances a peg an appropriate number of holes (one hole per point) away from the start (assuming that that player scored any points). The player's second score is recorded by placing the second peg an appropriate distance ahead of the first. For each subsequent score, the peg in back jumps over the peg in front. The distance between the two pegs always shows the amount of the last score. This method holds counting errors to a minimum. Each player receives six cards, dealt one at a time. After looking over the hand, each player lays away two cards face down. The four cards laid away, placed in one pile, form the crib. The crib counts for the dealer at the end of the hand. The non-dealer therefore tries to lay away balking cards -- cards that are least likely to create a score in the crib. To begin play, the dealer turns up the top card of the stock. This card is called the starter. The non-dealer then lays a card from his or her hand face-up on the table, announcing its value. The dealer does the same, with each player discarding to his or her own pile, and announcing the total of all cards played so far. Play alternates in the same way until the total reaches 31, or until the active player is unable to play another card without exceeding a total 31. When this happens, the active player says "Go" and the other player must play as many cards as possible, if any, that bring the total up to but not over 31. The player who did not play the last card then starts the process over again from zero. This continues until both players are out of cards. If one player runs out of cards while the other player still has two or more, the player with cards plays out the hand alone.

Scoring Scoring in Cribbage occurs both during play and after play. All the scoring revolves around the same basic principle of runs (at least three consecutive cards), pairs, flushes, and totals of 15. During play, points are scored when consecutive cards played create points, as well as in a few other special cases. After play, players take turns (starting with the non-dealer) finding as many point combinations as they can using the cards in their hand plus the starter. Then the dealer does the same with the crib and the starter. Scoring note: against human competition, if your opponent forgets to claim any points, you're allowed to yell " Muggins!" and claim the points for yourself. (The knowledge of who or what a Muggins is has long been lost to us. The word is also used in a form of Hearts, though with a different meaning.)

In-Play Scoring The first opportunity to score points in play comes when the starter is turned over. If the starter is a jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points ("pegs two"), traditionally called two for his heels. As players play cards from their hands, players score points based on the value of consecutive cards played (see point values and scoring examples below). If a player plays a card to make a total of 31, he or she scores 2 points. If no player can play to reach 31 exactly, the last player to play a card scores 1 point for go.

In-Play Point Values Total of 15 2 Pair 2 Three of a kind (pair royal) 6 Four of a kind (double pair royal) 12 Run of three or more 1 per card Jack starter ("his heels") 2 Go 1 Total of 31 2

In-Play Scoring Examples Chris plays a 7. Linda follows with another 7, scoring 2 points for a pair. Chris gleefully plays a third 7, scoring 6 points for three of a kind. Linda then miraculously plays the fourth 7, scoring 12 points for four of a kind, and bringing the total to 28. Neither Chris nor Linda can play any more cards without exceeding 31, so Linda scores 1 point for go. Chris is depressed. Chris plays a 7, and Linda follows with an 8, scoring 2 points for making 15. Chris then plays a 6, scoring 3 points for a run (6-7-8), and bringing the total to 21. Linda plays a queen, scoring 2 points for making 31. Linda plays a 5, Chris plays a 3, and Linda plays a 4, scoring 3 for a run (3-4-5). Chris then plays an ace, and Linda plays a 2, scoring 5 for a run (A-2-3-4-5), and 2 for making 15. Chris throws his cards in the air in disgust, and vows never to play Linda again.

In-Hand Scoring After all cards have been played, players determine their hand scores, starting with the non-dealer. Each player tries to make as many unique point-scoring card combinations as they can using their hand and the starter. Then the dealer does the same with the crib and the starter. Point values and scoring examples are below.

In-Hand Point Values Total of 15 2 Pair 2 Three of a kind (pair royal) 6 Four of a kind (double pair royal) 12 Run of three or more 1 per card Flush (four cards) 4 Flush (five cards) 5 Jack in starter suit ("his nobs") 1 Double run of three 8 Double run of four 10 Triple run 15 Quadruple run 16

Notes: A four-card flush cannot contain the starter. Four-card flushes in the crib do not count; the starter and all cards in the crib must be the same suit to earn points for a flush. A run is a sequence of at least three cards, such as 4-5-6. A double run of three is one duplicated card in a run of three: 4-5-6-6. A double run of four is one duplicated card in a run of four: 4-5-6-6-7. A triple run is one triplicated card in a run of three: 6-7-8-8-8. A quadruple run is two duplicate cards in a run of three: 6-7-7-8-8. In Cribbage, all of the big point scorers like double runs are derived from basic pair and run scoring. For example, a double-run is worth 8 points because it is a pair (2 points), plus two unique runs of three (3 points each). "Double run" is just shorthand for a pair and two runs of three. In-Hand Scoring Examples Chris comes back for more punishment. His hand is 2, 3, 3, J, and the starter is K.. He scores 2 for the pair (3+3), and 8 for the four combinations that total 15 (2+3+J, 2+3+J, 2+3+K., 2+3+K.), for a total of 10 points. Linda is up next. Her hand is 5., J., Q., K, and she uses the same starter, the K.. She scores 8 for the double run (J.-Q.-K-K.), 8 for the four 15s (each different face card plus the 5), and 1 for his nobs (the jack in the starter suit), for a total of 17. Note that she does not get 4 points for a flush, since the four cards of the same suit include the starter. It's Linda's crib. She reveals 7, 8, 8, 9. The starter is of no use to her, but she scores 8 for the double run, plus 4 for the two unique 15s (7+8, 7+8), for a nice total of 12. Chris renews his vow never to play Linda again. The highest score possible for a hand in Cribbage is three 5s and a jack in hand, with the fourth 5 as the starter in the suit of the jack in hand. This produces a hand score of 29 (eight combinations of 15, four of a kind, and his nobs). Take a screen capture or photograph for posterity if you ever achieve this!

Playing the Game 1 Put two cards in the crib: drag each card to the crib, or right-click each card. To remove cards you've placed in the crib, drag them back to your hand, or right-click them again. When you've selected two cards, click OKAY on the crib. 2 After the top card is shown, drag a card from your hand to your cards on the table, or right-click it to move it automatically. The point values for each card you play are calculated for you. Game Options You have the option of setting whether you count your card points yourself (allowing your opponent to call Muggins), whether to play seven complete games, who deals first at the start of a game, how cards are sorted, and the game difficulty. To change these options, click Cribbage Settings on the Options menu. For help on the options, see the help area in the Options dialog box. You can also select the peg color and position (inside or outside track) for each player. Click Cribbage Players on the Options menu (or click the Players tab in the Cribbage Options dialog box) to change these options.

See Also Cribbage Strategies and Tips Cribbage Background Cribbage Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Cribbage game: If you're just beginning at Cribbage and you're not sure what to discard, here's a prescription for improving your play—focus first on building your hand. Begin by looking for combinations of 15. 5s are especially prized because a third of the deck is made up of cards with a value of ten (10s and face cards), making lots of easy 15s. Any sequential cards are good (runs are easy to get and score relatively well). Combinations of 7 and 8 are very powerful, because in addition to scoring potential on runs, they also add up to 15. Pairs score easy points and are often (not always) worth keeping. After considering the hand you'd like to keep, turn your attention to the crib. If it's your crib (i.e., you dealt), see if you have two good cards that can't be easily joined to the rest of your hand. If you do, discard them. For example, the 3 and 4 in Figure 1 aren't scoring at all right now. By putting them in the crib, you're liable to score on 15s, pairs, runs, and double runs.

Figure 1: Discarding to Your Crib

If it's your opponent's crib, be cautious about giving away cards that could be easily turned into big points. Avoid giving any 5s or any of the card combinations already mentioned (15s, sequences, and pairs). Figure 2 shows a situation requiring some careful thinking. Keeping the 5, 6, 7 (run for three) and king (K + 5 = 15) seems most obvious. But consider this: should you give away the ace and 3 when you may be contributing to a possible run (if the other player obtains a 2) in your opponent's crib? Discarding the king and the ace is a better alternative, because you can avoid the risk while still keeping two points (7 + 3 + 5 = 15). Be on the lookout for triple card combinations of 15 like this.

Figure 2: Discarding to Your Opponent's Crib

Figure 3 shows a situation requiring even greater caution. Let's suppose it's your opponent's crib. Your two 5s aren't scoring anything, but discarding 5s is not deemed wise in general (especially two of them!). Two 5s could contribute to a huge crib for your opponent (4-12 points is most likely, but it could be over 20). Balking (intentionally ruining) your score may be the best course of action to prevent your opponent from hitting it big. The horrifying reality is that, if you don't discard both of the 5s, you'll have to break up a majestic hand (already worth 8 to 24 points!). In this situation, consider the overall score. Is it the right time to take a risk? Take a look at the board. If you're far behind, maybe you should go ahead and do it. If you're far ahead, why chance it? Make sure you weigh these additional factors before you make a decision. Figure 3: Difficult Discarding Decisions

When play begins, avoid leading with cards that allow easy points by your opponent, especially 5s. Any time that you lead with a 5, your opponent is likely to play a 10 or face card for an easy two points. You can also try to create scoring opportunities by trapping your opponent. For example, if you lead with one card in a pair (Figure 4), your opponent may respond with a matching card in order to score two points. Now you spring the trap, playing your second 6 and pegging six points for three of a kind.

Figure 4: Trapping Your Opponent

At the end of a game, if you are ahead and about to peg out (win), you can discard for a good pegging hand. This means you want cards that will allow you combinations of 15 on almost any card your opponent plays. For example, a 5, 6, 8, 9 isn't normally a great hand, but it gives you great odds of scoring two points on a 15. The exception to this when you play the first card (i.e. when the other player deals), in which case it is more difficult to score. In this case, it's better to hold onto an ace or another low card to make sure you can play as the count approaches 31. Conversely, if your opponent is about to peg out, play a low card so as to make 15 unreachable. If you're dealt an ace, keep it so they won't easily get the Go for a point.

Advanced Strategies Since the highest points are obtained when scoring the hands, it is easy to think that pegging one or two points at a time during play is small potatoes. However, all other things being equal, a good pegger will usually win at Cribbage. It's a case of the tortoise and the hare—slogging it out for the little points really adds up. Performing well during pegging involves a mental effort. Look at Figure 5. Your opponent leads with a 3. You respond with a 9. The 9 is a good play, taking into account that a second 9 is showing as the starter card (out of play); it is unlikely your opponent can play another 9, scoring two points on a pair. Figure 5: Example of Play

Figure 6 shows that a 2 is played next. The total is 14. Any of your remaining cards seems acceptable at first glance. The 6, however, would make a total of 20. In general, leaving a count of 20 is undesirable (unless you have an ace in hand) because of the high probability of 10s and face cards. Of course, leaving 21 is even worse and is likely to lead to an easy two points for your opponent.

Figure 6: Example of Play (2)

Additional information can be gleaned from Figure 6, based on the 3 and 2 that have been played by your opponent. Remember: you're not the only one trying to build strong hands through your initial discards. The 3 and 2, adding up to five, may indicate that he or she has one or more 10s still in hand. In view of this, it is even more critical to avoid playing the 6. Your opponent may also be holding one or more of A, 2, 3, and 4, as part of a run. Continuing with this example, Figure 7 shows what happens next. You have played the 8, and your opponent, as suspected, counters with a 4. The total is 26. You say, "Go" and your opponent scores one point. Don't miss this important information; your opponent could not play any cards adding up to 31 or less. This means that your opponent does not have any cards from ace to 5. The only other cards that would help your opponent's hand significantly is any face card (3 + 2 + 10 = 15), a 10 (for 15), a 9 (2 + 4 + 9 = 15), or a 6 (3 + 2 + 4 + 6 = 15). Figure 7: Example of Play (3)

You lead the next round, and you have a choice between your last two cards, the 6 and 10. This is a close call, but playing the 10 is the best move (Figure 8). It's not a risk, because you know the other player can't have a 5. Playing the 6 would allow the other player to score two points by playing a 9 (if they have one).

Figure 8: Next Round

See Also How to Play Cribbage Cribbage Background Cribbage pops up in recorded literature early in the 17th century. Frederic Grunfeld in Games of the World traced it to an English card game called Noddy. (No one knows how Noddy was played, but in the 1600s, the word meant a "fumbling, inept person," so the reader is welcome to draw a conclusion from that.) Noddy was the only card game of that era that used a board for scoring, and, as there are no other contestants for the title, we can say with some assurance that this long-forgotten card game probably inspired Cribbage. The game was quickly taken up by "gentlemen gamblers" throughout Europe, which lends some credence to the claim that Cribbage was invented (or at least popularized) by Sir John Suckling (1609-1642), poet, soldier, gentleman gambler, and ne'er-do-well. (Suckling himself never made this claim; it was made instead by a contemporary writer named John Aubrey in a book called Brief Lives.) Few changes have been made in the rules since Suckling's time, beyond the introduction of a four-handed variation. In two-handed Cribbage, you're dealt six cards; in Suckling's day it was five. There's also a seven-card variety. Today, two-handed, six-card Cribbage is the most popular way to play.

Cribbage on the World Stage In the early 1800s, the king of Sweden, Adolf Gustav IV, made several miscalculations in the realm of foreign affairs. Sweden soon found itself at war with almost everyone in Europe, and the Swedish military leaders, justifiably alarmed, forced the king to abdicate. Gustav signed the abdication papers on a Cribbage board, which perhaps he had dedicated too much time to.

The Hard Life of a Filthy Rich Poet John Aubrey described Suckling as "the greatest gallant of his time, and the greatest Gamester, both for Bowling and for Cards...He played at Cards rarely well, and did use to practice by himself a-bed, and there studied how the best way of managing the cards could be." Aubrey, however, didn't set out merely to burnish Suckling's reputation. He also chronicled the gentleman's talent for cheating. Suckling had inherited a fortune at 18, and one of the uses he put this money to was to make his own packs of marked playing cards. He sent these packs as gifts to all the gaming places in England where gentlemen congregated. Of course, when he arrived, he fleeced the lot! In 1639, England went to war against Scotland, and Suckling, perhaps wanting to do the right thing, raised his own regiment, paying for their horses (and their gaudy uniforms) from his Cribbage winnings. Suckling's commandos fared poorly against the Scots, but they looked great. Suckling's poetry was witty, lively, and ahead of his time in its use of everyday language. He seemed to especially enjoy puncturing the high-flown pretensions of literary love ballads: Out upon it I have loved Three whole days together; And am like to love three more, If it prove fair weather. In 1642, Suckling took part in a failed attempt to free a friend from a jail cell in the Tower of London. He was forced to leave the country, and he died later that year in Paris, possibly by his own hand. How to Play Solitaire Hoyle Card Games includes 50 different Solitaire games, including one and two-deck games and arcade-style games. Although Solitaire rules vary widely from game to game, there are many common elements. The goal of most Solitaire games is to move cards to foundation piles. Most games have columns, rows, or piles you move cards between (known as the tableau), according to particular rules. You often play cards from a stock pile onto the tableau and foundations. Some games also have reserve piles that are available for play.

To start a game: Click Solitaire from the Main Screen to go to the Solitaire game list OR Click Solitaire on the Go To menu, and then click All Variations (to go to the Solitaire game list), or click the name of one of your favorite games to start that game. Initially, only one favorite game is shown in the Go To menu (Klondike, the game most people think of when they think of solitaire), but you can add your own favorites using the game list. Using the Solitaire Game List In the Solitaire game list, you can point to the name of any game to see the layout and description of that game. You'll also see the number of decks used for the game, how many times you have attempted and won the game, and the game difficulty. Click the heart-shaped button to the left of each game to add that game as one of your favorites; the button will change to yellow to indicate that it is a favorite game. Favorites appear in the Go To menu so that you can access them quickly. To remove a game from your favorites list, click the button again. To start a game from the game list, click the name of the game. Note: You can click the Main Menu button to go back to the main menu instead of starting a game.

Solitaire Game Rules To learn the specific rules for a game, click the game name in the list below. Click Solitaire Settings on the Options menu within the game to set game rules and options. One Deck Two Deck Arcade Aces Up Four Seasons Aces and Kings 3 Towers Baker's Dozen Gaps Alhambra Best 21 Baroness Golf Batsford Fast 21 Beleaguered Castle Klondike Colorado Pick 2 Betsy Ross La Belle Lucie Forty Thieves Sum 11 Bowling Nestor Mount Olympus Bristol Penguin Red and Black Calculation Poker Square Spider Canfield Pyramid Sultan Clock Scorpion Terrace Cribbage Square Seahaven Towers Eagle Wing Shamrocks Eight Off Slide Eliminator Spiderette Euchre Strategy Flower Garden Triplets Fortress Yukon Four Free

Hint: Looking for the game many people think of as Solitaire? Try Klondike.

Actions in Solitaire Games To move a card, drag it to its destination. To move a card (or stack of cards) automatically, right-click it. This generally works for moving a card to the foundation, but sometimes moves cards to the correct place in the tableau, depending on the game. Right-clicking the stock pile will flip the stock. In all games but the Arcade Solitaire games, double-clicking the left button does the same thing as right-clicking. To undo your last move, click the Undo button or press Ctrl + Z on the keyboard. Select Undo again to undo multiple times. Some games do not allow Undo. To stop playing a game, and start a new one, click the New Game button. Your score for the game is shown and a new game is started. When you click New Game, you can choose to replay the same deal, or play a new deal.

Notes: When no more moves are available, your game will automatically end. You can then start a new game, or undo your last move in the game that ended. If you right-click to move a card or group of cards automatically and there are two or more legal moves, the computer may not pick the "best" move. It is safest to click and drag when there are multiple legal moves. To take advantage of some of the options available within each game, click Solitaire Settings on the Options menu when you are in a game. Some of the commonly available options are listed below. You can turn on rollover help that identifies each area of the Solitaire screen (such as the foundations or the stock pile). The help is shown automatically when you point to an area with your mouse. To use this option, check the Show Rollover Help box in the game settings. In most games, you can use a game option to see what cards can be moved. When you use this option, the game will highlight the cards that you can legally move. When you roll over a highlighted card, the place(s) the card can be moved to will be highlighted. To use this option, check the Show Playable Cards box in the game settings. In some games, you have the option to have the computer deal only winnable hands. How long it takes to find a winnable hand depends on the game and the game settings. The following games offer this option: Baroness, Bristol, Canfield, Clock, Eagle Wing, Eight Off, Four Free, Four Seasons, Golf, Klondike, Nestor, Penguin, Pyramid, and Seahaven Towers. To use this option, check the Deal a Winnable Hand box in the game settings.

See Also Solitaire Background Aces and Kings Goal: Build the first four foundations up from ace to king, regardless of suit, and build the second four foundations down from king to ace, regardless of suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations, two reserve piles containing a row of 13 overlapping cards each, and four tableau piles containing one card each.

How to Play Move the topmost cards from the reserve piles and the tableau to the foundations, building the first four foundations up from aces to kings, the second four foundations down from king to ace. Empty piles are automatically filled from the stock pile; when the stock pile is empty, tableau piles can be filled with any available card. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations. No redeals are allowed. Cards can be moved between the foundations, if desired.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies Moving a card from an ace foundation to a king foundation (or vice versa) makes it possible to play different cards to the foundations. Moving a jack from the top of a queen (on the king foundation) to the top of a 10 (on the ace foundation) makes it possible to play a queen to the foundations, instead of a 10. If you can choose between moving a card with the same rank from the reserve piles or the tableau piles, it is usually better to move it from the reserve piles, since that frees up other cards.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Aces Up Goal: Finish with all four aces at the top of the tableau columns, one ace per column, and no other cards in the columns. Setup: The game begins with one foundation and four tableau columns containing one card each. A waste pile can hold up to five cards.

How to Play From among the topmost cards of each tableau column, move all but the highest ranking card of each suit to the foundation. Aces rank highest. Click here for an example: When play comes to a standstill, click the stock pile to deal another row of four cards, one to each column, then continue to play. You can move cards to the waste pile; up to five cards total. Cards cannot be removed from the waste pile. You cannot play aces to the waste pile (since this would automatically lose the game). Continue until all the cards from the stock pile have been played and no further moves can be made. Empty columns can be filled with the topmost card of another column. No other plays are allowed between columns.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the No Waste Pile option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies It is always good to play cards to the foundation. Move aces to empty columns when possible.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Firing Squad and Idiot's Delight.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Alhambra Goal: Build the first four foundations up from ace to king, in suit, and build the second four foundations down from king to ace, in suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations, eight reserve piles containing four cards each, and one waste pile.

How to Play Move cards from the reserve piles to the foundations, building the first four foundations up from ace to king, and building the last four foundations down from king to ace. Cards can't be moved between piles. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations, or, if it can't be played there, must be moved to the waste pile. Two redeals are allowed. When possible, you can play cards from the reserve piles to the waste pile (building up and down in suit, wrapping from ace to king or king to ace). Click here for an example:

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies Be sure not to miss any possible plays to the waste pile, since this is the only way to move cards between piles. If you have a choice to play two identical cards on the reserve piles, "peek" under the piles to see which cards are underneath to decide which card to play.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Baker's Dozen Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and thirteen tableau columns containing four cards each (three face up, one face down). Any kings that are dealt are automatically moved to the top of the columns, replacing the face down card in that column.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau columns to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Build columns down, regardless of suit. Each column can hold a maximum of eleven cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns cannot be filled.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Two Cards Face Down option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, two cards are dealt face down in each column, instead of one.

Strategies Move out your aces to the foundations as soon as possible, and get your lower cards out from under higher cards. Play cards of the same suit on your columns to make it easier to move them to foundations as the game develops. Uncovering cards is desirable.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Baroness Goal: Remove all the cards from the tableau by removing pairs of cards that add up to 13. Setup: The game begins with five tableau columns containing one card each.

How to Play Remove cards from the tableau columns in pairs that add up to 13. Aces are worth 1, jacks are worth 11, and queens are worth 12. You can automatically discard kings (worth 13) by themselves. All other cards are worth their face value. Therefore, the cards that can be removed are ace+queen, 2+jack, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8, 6+7, and king. To select a card or pair of cards, click on each card (cards become shaded). (To unselect a card, click it again.) When one or two cards that add up to 13 are selected, the cards are automatically removed. Cards cannot be moved between columns. When play comes to a standstill, click on the stock pile to place a row of five cards on the tableau, one to each column. The last two cards from the stock pile are placed in separate columns and are also available to play.

Strategies When there is more than one card combination you can remove (or two identical cards you can remove in combination with another card or cards), check to see if either will reveal cards you need to remove other cards; if so, remove that combination first.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Five Piles and Thirteen(s).

See Also How to Play Solitaire Batsford Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations and ten tableau columns in a Klondike-style layout (the first column has one card, and each column contains one more card than the previous column). Only the topmost card of each column is face up; all the rest are face down. A reserve pile at the bottom of the screen can hold up to three kings.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau columns to the foundations, building up from ace to king, in suit. In the tableau, you can build columns down in alternating colors. Each column can hold a maximum of between thirteen (leftmost column) and twenty-two (rightmost column) cards. Single cards and packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns can be filled with kings or packed cards starting with kings. You can move kings to the reserve pile at any time; three kings at most. You can play the topmost king to the foundation, when possible. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or the tableau. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies This game is the same as Klondike except for the number of cards and columns used and the ability to place three kings in a reserve pile. The reserve pile is most useful to get kings out of the stock pile, since there is no redeal; it's usually best not to move kings from the tableau to the reserve pile unless really needed. Be sure to get kings out of the reserve pile out at the earliest opportunity, since the pile can only hold three kings, and there are eight in the pile.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Beleaguered Castle Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, regardless of suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations, each started for you with an ace. All cards are dealt face up to eight tableau rows, each containing six cards.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau rows to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, regardless of suit. You can build tableau rows down, regardless of suit. Each row can hold a maximum of 13 cards. Only the topmost card of a row can be moved to another row. Empty rows can only be filled with kings.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Build Foundations In Suit option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Many of the strategies for playing Klondike apply for this game as well. Try to empty out columns, so you can move kings that cover needed cards.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Laying Siege and Sham Battle.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Betsy Ross Goal: Build the foundations up, regardless of suit, using a defined numerical order for each foundation. Setup: The game begins with four foundations started with a 2, 4, 6, and 8. An ace, 2, 3, and 4 are placed in a column next to the foundations as "guides" to remind you of the arithmetic differences by which the foundations are built up. (For instance, the 3 row is built up by threes, starting with 6.)

How to Play Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time, and build the foundations up, regardless of suit, in the order below. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K 4 6 8 10 Q A 3 5 7 9 J K 6 9 Q 2 5 8 J A 4 7 10 K 8 Q 3 7 J 2 6 10 A 5 9 K Two redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies Figure out what cards you'll need to play to the foundations early, and avoid covering up these cards. Don't lay a card over any lower card of the same rank. Consider reserving a column just for kings.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Four Kings, Musical Patience, and Quadruple Alliance.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Bowling

Up to four players can play this game. Click here for information on playing with other players: Goal: Score the highest possible bowling score by filling in as many "pins" as possible in each frame. A score of 230 or greater wins the game. Scoring follows normal bowling scoring rules. Setup: The game begins with a tableau of ten spaces organized in a triangle shape. The spaces represent bowling pins, and are numbered from one to ten as follows: 7 8 9 10 4 5 6 2 3 1 There are two waste piles at the left side of the tableau. Each waste pile can hold three cards and represents one of the two bowling balls "thrown" for each frame. A standard bowling scorecard is used to keep track of the points scored by each player.

How to Play 1 Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time. Place the upcard onto the 10-pin grid if possible, according to the following rules: In order to place a card on a given pin number, the card must be ranked in sequence in between the previous and next pin. Aces rank lowest. Click here for an example: Cards of identical rank can be placed on the same pin slot. 2 When a card cannot be placed on the grid without breaking the placement rules, the card must be placed onto the waste pile for the current ball being thrown (the top pile is for the first ball). Three cards in a waste pile constitutes one ball "thrown." 3 If you fill all ten pin spaces before there are three cards in the first waste pile, you score a strike for the frame. If you fill all ten pin spaces before there are six cards in the waste piles (from three to five cards), you score a spare for the frame. If six cards are placed in the waste piles, the score for that frame is one point for each pin space filled. Note: Saving games is not supported in Bowling.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Waste Piles Hold Two Cards option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies When first placing cards, be sure you leave gaps between them unless they're consecutive (for example, leave a gap between a 4 and a 6).

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Bristol Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, regardless of suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and eight tableau columns containing three cards each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau columns to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, regardless of suit. You can build columns down, regardless of suit. Each column can hold a maximum of fifteen cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns cannot be filled. Click the stock pile to flip cards three at a time, one to each of three piles. These cards can be moved to a column or to a foundation. Empty spaces in these piles can only be filled with cards from the stock pile. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Build Foundations In Suit option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). To make the game easier, choose the Kings Can Fill Columns option in the game settings. This allows empty tableau columns to be filled with kings.

Strategies Move your aces to the foundations as soon as possible, and get your lower cards out from under higher cards. Play cards of the same suit on your columns to make it easier to move them to foundations as the game develops.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Calculation Goal: Build the foundations up, regardless of suit, according to a defined numerical order for each foundation. Setup: The game begins with four foundations. An A, 2, 3, and 4 are placed in a column next to the foundations as "guides" to remind you of the arithmetic differences by which the foundations are built up. (For instance, the 3 row is built up by threes, starting with 6.) There are five empty tableau columns.

How to Play Build the foundations up, regardless of suit, in the order below. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K 4 6 8 10 Q A 3 5 7 9 J K 6 9 Q 2 5 8 J A 4 7 10 K 8 Q 3 7 J 2 6 10 A 5 9 K Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time. The upcard can be played to the foundations or onto one of the five tableau columns. Each column can hold a maximum of eighteen cards. Cards can't be moved between columns. Move cards from the tableau columns to the foundations, if possible. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Only Four Columns option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Since kings are played to the foundations last, you might want to use one column just for kings. Similarly, you might want to use another column for cards you won't need until later in the game, and another for "hot cards" you should be able to use soon. Figure out what cards you'll need to play to the foundations early, and avoid covering up these cards. Don't lay a card over any lower card of the same rank.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Broken Intervals.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Canfield Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, starting from a randomly selected card. Setup: The game begins with four foundations, one containing a randomly selected card. Four tableau columns each contain one card, and ten cards are dealt to a reserve pile.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up, in suit, from the rank of the randomly selected card in the first foundation. Wrap from king to ace, if necessary. You can build tableau columns down in alternating colors, wrapping from king to ace, as necessary. Each column can hold a maximum of fifteen cards. Single cards and packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns are automatically filled with cards from the reserve pile; when the reserve pile is empty, empty columns can be filled with an upcard from the stock pile. Click the stock pile to flip cards three at a time onto a waste pile; the upcard can be played to a foundation or a tableau column. Cards you uncover are also available for play. You can redeal as often as you like. If there are no more moves left and you have gone through the stock pile once, the game will end. The topmost card of the reserve pile can be played to a foundation or a tableau column.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Thirteen Card reserve (the reserve pile has thirteen cards instead of ten) and Move Only Full Builds (all packed cards must be moved as a complete unit between columns) in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Play cards from the reserve before playing cards from the waste pile whenever possible. Get your cards to the foundations at every opportunity.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Demon, Fascination, and Thirteen.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Clock Goal: Move all of the cards onto the correct foundations before drawing all four kings. Setup: The game begins with twelve face-down foundation piles containing four face-down cards each, arranged to represent the numbers on a clock face, and one waste pile.

How to Play 1 A card is flipped from the stock pile. Place that card on the tableau pile matching the clock number corresponding to that card. (The number is indicated next to the card.) For example, if you draw a 6, place it on the lower middle pile (corresponding to the location of the 6 on a clock). aces go on the 1 pile, jacks go on the 11 pile, and queens go on the 12 pile. (kings go on a separate pile.) Click here for an example: 2 The card you placed on the pile is moved to the bottom of the pile, and the top card of that pile is revealed. Place that card to its correct pile. 3 Continue to place cards until a king appears. When a king appears, move it to the waste pile on the left of the clock. After a king is drawn, a new card is flipped from the stock pile for you. 4 If you get all 12 numbers to appear (by placing all four cards for each number on the pile) before you draw a fourth king, you win. The game ends if all four kings are drawn. Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies There are no choices to make in Clock, so you'll just have to hope that the cards are laid out to come out correctly. Making Clock come out is a very rare occurrence.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Four of a Kind, Hidden Cards, Sun Dial, and Travelers.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Colorado Goal: Build the first four foundations up from ace to king, in suit, and build the second four foundations down from king to ace, in suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations and 20 tableau piles containing one card each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau piles to the foundations. The first four foundations are built up from ace to king, in suit, and the second four foundations are built down from king to ace, in suit. You must build each suit both up and down (in other words, the first four foundations must contain aces of four unique suits, and the last four must contain kings of four unique suits). Empty tableau piles are automatically filled with cards from the stock pile. If a pile contains several cards, only the top card can be moved to the foundations. Cards can't be moved between piles. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or on top of any of the tableau piles. There are no rules for placing the upcard on the tableau, you can place it on any pile you like. You must play each flipped card somewhere. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies You can lift any card from a tableau pile to "peek" under it and see what card (if any) is underneath. In general, you might want to try to place cards on tops of piles of cards of the same suit. Then, when you remove a card from a pile, you might be able to use the card under it sometime soon. Try not to cover up cards that you'll need soon. If two of the tableau piles hold the same card (rank and suit), you might want to cover one of those piles with a card, since you are unlikely to need both cards at the same time.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Cribbage Square Goal: Score the highest possible Cribbage hand in each row and column, thus scoring the highest possible overall score. To win, you must get a total score of at least 75 points. Setup: The game begins with a tableau containing sixteen spaces (four rows and columns). Each space in the tableau can only contain one card.

How to Play Cards are flipped up from the stock pile one at a time. Each card must be placed either on the tableau or in the waste pile. The waste pile can hold up to four cards. Try to place cards in the most advantageous positions to form the best Cribbage hands. Click here for an example of a finished Cribbage Square: There are a total of eight hands--one in each of the four rows and columns. Once placed, a card cannot be moved again. When all the spaces in the tableau are filled, the game is over. The final card dealt is the starter card, which is included in every cribbage hand on the tableau. In other words, the first hand would be the first row of cards plus the starter card, the second hand would be the second row of cards plus the starter card, and so on.

Scoring Scoring follows normal cribbage scoring as described below. Hand Score Definition (Example) Four of a kind: 12 points Four cards of the same rank (3, 3, 3, 3) Three of a kind: 6 points Three cards of the same rank (jack, jack, jack) Each pair: 2 points Two cards of the same rank (6, 6) Each 15: 2 points Combinations of cards totaling 15* (2, 3, king) Each run: 1 point per card Three or more cards in sequence regardless of suit (8, 9, 10) Flush: 1 point per card All four non-starter cards have same suit (the 2, 4, 5, and 8 of clubs), or all five cards (including the starter) are the same suit (the 2, 4, 5, 8, and 10 of clubs) Nobs: 1 point Contains jack in the same suit as the starter card Heels: 2 points The starter card is a jack * Aces are worth 1, jacks, queens, and kings are worth 10, and all other cards are worth their face value. Any number of cards can be combined to make 15.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the No Waste Pile option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). To see a continuous scoring summary as you play, choose the Show Scoring Summary option in the game settings.

Strategies When placing the cards, remember what card combinations go best with others. Keep 7s and 8s in rows or columns, 5s with 10s and face cards. Try to score on double runs (e.g., 4, 5, 6, 6) and on 15s.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Eagle Wing Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, starting from a randomly selected card. Setup: The game begins with four foundations; the first foundation contains a randomly selected card. There are also eight tableau columns containing one card each, and a reserve pile containing fourteen cards.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up, in suit, from the rank of the randomly selected card in the first foundation. Wrap from king to ace, if necessary. You can build tableau columns down, in suit, wrapping from ace to king as necessary. Columns cannot exceed three cards. Single cards and fully packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns are automatically filled with cards from the reserve pile; when the reserve pile is empty, empty columns can be filled with single cards from the stock pile or with single or packed cards from other columns. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to a foundation or a tableau column. One redeal is allowed. The topmost card of the reserve pile can be played to a foundation or a tableau column.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Seventeen Card reserve option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Play cards from the reserve before playing cards from the waste pile whenever possible. Get your cards to the foundations at every opportunity.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Thirteen Down.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Eight Off Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and all of the cards dealt to eight tableau columns, four columns with seven cards and four columns with six cards. There are eight reserve piles at the bottom of the tableau.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in suit. Each column can hold a maximum of eleven cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns can be filled with the topmost card of another column or a card from a reserve pile. You can move the topmost card of any column to a reserve pile. Each reserve pile can hold one card. Cards in the reserve pile can be played to a foundation or a tableau column.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Only Kings Fill Empty Columns or Four Cards Dealt To reserves in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Work to get the aces and low cards out of the columns and over to the foundations. When you find a move, perform it mentally to see where you end up. Then compare it to your other possible moves to see which one does the most good. This is important, because you can end up limiting your options if you're not careful. Try to empty columns to increase your mobility.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Eliminator Goal: Remove all cards from the four tableau columns. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations, and all the cards dealt to four tableau columns containing thirteen cards each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building each foundation either up or down, regardless of suit. You can start each foundation with any card you like, wrapping from king to ace or ace to king as necessary. Cards cannot be moved between columns, and empty columns cannot be filled. For a challenge, try to use as few foundations as possible. At the end of the game, you get 10 points added to your score for each foundation you don't use.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Foundations In Alternating Colors option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). To make the game easier, choose the Use One-Card reserve option in the game settings. With this option selected, a one card reserve pile is added to the game; you can move any card to this pile, and move it to the foundations later.

Strategies Every empty foundation can be used to avoid a dead-end. Therefore, try to use as few foundations as possible. Look for runs of cards in suit, especially for the longest run in the first moves of the game. Click here for an example:

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Euchre Goal: Score the most possible points by winning euchre tricks played against the deck. In Euchre Solitaire, you are playing a game of Euchre against the deck. (The deck acts as another player.) A special Euchre deck (containing 24 cards, nines through aces only) is used. Tricks are taken (won) using rules from the card game Euchre. Setup: The game begins with a hand of five cards, and two card spaces (one for your card, and one for the deck).

How to Play 1 A card is flipped from the stock pile; you are asked to select whether or not you want to use this card as trump. Click Order It Up to use the suit of the upcard as trump, or click Pass to choose another suit to be trump. Click here for an example: If you order up the trump, the upcard will be played as the deck's first card. Otherwise, the upcard is put at the bottom of the deck. If you think you can take all five tricks, check the Double Stakes box to get double points; you get double points if you succeed, but you lose points if you don't take all five tricks. (You can do this regardless of whether you order up trump or choose it yourself.) The trump suit is shown in the upper left corner. 3 On the first trick, place one of your cards onto your card space. If you ordered up the trump, the deck will play the upcard as its first card. Click here for an example: Otherwise, the deck draws cards until it reaches a card that either follows suit* or is trump, and then plays that card. 4 The trick is taken by you or the deck according to Euchre rules (see the section below). If you take the trick, you lead (play the first card for) the next trick, and the deck draws cards until it reaches a card that either follows suit* or is trump, and plays that card. If the deck takes the trick, the top card on the deck is played, and you must play in response to that card. You must always follow suit*, if possible. If you're out of a suit, you can play any card, including trump. 5 A hand ends after five tricks are taken. (Note: If the deck runs out of cards, you win the remaining tricks by default.) You continue to play Euchre hands until either you or the deck gets 10 points. * Note: In Euchre, the jack of the same color as the trump suit is called the left bower; it's considered to be a trump card and is no longer considered a member of its original suit--when it's led, it should be followed with trump, not with its original suit. See below for more information.

How Tricks are Taken The highest card of a suit led takes the trick unless a trump card is played. The cards in non-trump suits rank in their usual order, A-K-Q-J-10-9, but in this game, as in Euchre, the trump suit is ranked differently: the highest card is the jack of that suit (the right bower), and the second highest card is the other jack of the same color (the left bower). For instance, if spades is trump, then the jack of spades is the highest ranking card, followed by the jack of clubs, ace of spades, king of spades, queen of spades, 10 of spades, and 9 of spades. Suit Order of Cards Non-Trump Ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9 Trump Jack of trump (right bower), jack of same color as trump (left bower), ace, king, queen, 10, 9

Scoring Euchre Solitaire hands are scored as follows: On each hand, you score 1 point if you win three or four of the five tricks, and 2 points for winning all five tricks. Otherwise, you are "euchred" and lose 2 points. The computer scores only by euchring you. If you elected to play for Double Stakes, however, you score 4 points if you take all five tricks, otherwise you lose 2 points. Whoever gets 10 points first wins.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies You want to be able to choose a trump suit so that there will be a good chance your hand will win at least three tricks. If you choose the trump suit of the upcard, keep in mind that this card will be the first card played by the deck. High trump cards and aces of other suits should have good chances to win tricks. Low trump cards may also win tricks if you are void in other suits. During play, if you don't have a sure winner but have low trump cards, throw away weak singleton non-trumps so you can later trump that suit.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Flower Garden Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with six tableau columns containing five cards each. The remaining 22 cards are dealt to a reserve pile.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down, regardless of suit. Each column can hold a maximum of fourteen cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns can be filled with any available card. Any card from the reserve pile (not just the topmost card) can be played to a foundation or a tableau column.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Sixteen Card reserve option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Work to get the aces and low cards out of the columns and over to the foundations. When you find a move, perform it mentally to see where you end up. Then compare it to your other possible moves to see which one does the most good. This is important, because you can end up limiting your options if you're not careful. Try to empty columns to increase your mobility.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Bouquet and The Garden.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Fortress Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, starting with a card you select. Setup: The game begins with four foundations. All 52 cards are dealt face up in ten tableau rows, the top two rows containing six cards and the other eight rows containing five cards.

How to Play First, select the topmost card of any row as the starting card for the foundations by moving that card to one of the foundations. Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up, in suit, from the rank of the card you selected. You can wrap from king to ace, as necessary. You can build tableau rows up and down, regardless of suit, wrapping cards if necessary. Each row can hold a maximum of thirteen cards. Only the topmost card can be moved to another row or foundation. Empty rows can be filled with any available card.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Only Aces Start Foundations or Only Kings Fill Columns in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies To decide on the starting card for the foundations, look at the top half of the columns to see which cards are most prevalent. If there are a lot of cards of similar rankings (e.g., 5s, 6s, and 7s), pick the lower rank (5s in this example) for the foundations, since you're building up. Build up the foundations evenly. Since any card can be placed in an empty column, you will increase your options if you can pile lots of cards in relatively few columns.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Forty Thieves Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations and ten tableau columns containing four cards each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in suit. Each column can hold a maximum of fifteen cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns can be filled with any available card. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or a tableau column. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies This is a very difficult game to finish, since you can only build the tableau columns down in suit. As much as possible, try to free up the aces. When given a choice of two identical cards to play to a foundation, play a card that will let you free up better cards underneath.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Big Forty, Le Cadran, Napoleon at St. Helena, and Roosevelt at San Juan.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Four Free Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations, eight tableau columns (the first four containing seven cards each, the last four containing six), and four reserve piles.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in alternate colors. Each column can hold a maximum of eighteen cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns can be filled with any card from the tableau or reserve piles. Any card can be moved to a reserve pile. Reserve piles can hold one card each. Cards on the reserve piles can be played to the tableau or to the foundations.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies Work to get the aces and low cards out of the columns and over to the foundations. When you find a move, perform it mentally to see where you end up. Then compare it to your other possible moves to see which one does the most good. This is important, because you can end up limiting your options if you're not careful. Try to empty columns to increase your mobility.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Four Seasons Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, starting with a randomly selected card. Setup: The game begins with four foundations (found in the four corners of the tableau). The upper left foundation contains a randomly selected card. There are five tableau piles containing one card each (the piles form a "cross" shape).

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the four corner foundations, building the foundations up in suit, starting from the rank of the randomly selected card in the upper left foundation. You can wrap from king to ace if necessary. You can build tableau piles down, regardless of suit. You can move cards between piles, if possible. Click here for an example: Empty piles can be filled with the topmost card from the stock pile or with the topmost card from another tableau pile. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or to the tableau. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies You can lift any card from a tableau pile to "peek" under it and see what card (if any) is underneath. Since you can fill empty spaces at any time, you might want to wait to fill a space with a card you'll need soon, rather than filling it right away.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Corner Card, Czarina, and Vanishing Cross.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Gaps Goal: Arrange four rows of cards, one row of each suit, sequentially from Two to king. Setup: The game begins with all cards dealt face up, in four rows. All Twos are automatically placed at the beginning of each row. After all of the cards have been dealt, the aces are removed from the game, forming four gaps.

How to Play You can fill gaps with the next higher card of the same suit as the card on the left of the gap, or with the next lower card of the same suit as the card on the right of the gap. Wrapping from king to ace is not allowed. In the example below, you could move the 7 of hearts or the 8 of spades into the gap.

To move a card, click the mouse on the card you want to move (the card becomes shaded), and then click on the destination gap. (To unselect a card, click it again.)

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the Play Only Higher Than Left option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, a card can be moved into a gap only if it is of the same suit and of one rank higher than the card to the immediate left of the gap. Note that no card may be moved into a gap at the right of a king. Continue filling gaps as they are created, until all are blocked by kings. To make the game easier, choose the Two Redeals option in the game settings. With Two Redeals selected, when play comes to a standstill, all cards that are not in the proper order are gathered, the four aces added back, and the deck shuffled and redealt. The aces are then removed again to form gaps and play continues. Two redeals are allowed.

Strategies You'll have big trouble if you leave a gap to the right of a king. Ditto if you allow a gap to shift to the far right end of a row.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Montana.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Golf Goal: Move all the cards to the foundation. Your final score is the number of cards remaining in the columns when you have no moves left. As in real golf, the lower the score, the better. Setup: The game begins with one foundation and seven tableau columns, each containing five cards.

How to Play First, choose any card from any column and move it to start the foundation. Move cards from the tableau columns to the foundation, building the foundation pile up or down, regardless of suit. Ace is low and king is high. You cannot wrap from king to ace or from ace to king. Cards cannot be moved between columns. When play comes to a standstill, click the stock pile to flip a card onto the foundation and continue play. Keep playing until no cards remain in the stock pile.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Six Columns (play begins with six tableau columns, each containing six cards) or Can't Play On Kings (no cards can be placed on kings, neither aces nor queens--kings are "the end of the line") in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Before playing, check to see which card sequences will permit the highest number of cards to be moved to the foundation. Save your 2s and queens as insurance against an ace or king that turns up from the stock.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Klondike Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with twenty-eight cards dealt to seven tableau columns. The first column has one card, the second two cards, and so on. All cards are face down except for the topmost card of each column, which is face up.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in alternating colors. Each column can hold a maximum of between thirteen (leftmost column) and twenty-two (rightmost column) cards. Single cards and packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns can only be filled with kings (or packed cards starting with kings). Click the stock pile to flip cards three at a time; the upcard can be played to a foundation or a tableau column. You can redeal as often as you like. If you have no more moves left and you have redealt one time, the game will end. When all the cards are either face-up on the tableau or played on the foundations, you can have the game play out automatically.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. You can choose one of four different types of Klondike games; to change game types, click Settings on the File menu.

Game Types Flip Three Cards, Infinite Resets: The standard game. Cards are flipped over three at a time, and you can redeal as often as you like. Flip One Card, No Resets: A more difficult game. In this game, cards from the stock pile are flipped over one at a time, and no redeals are allowed. Flip One Card, One Reset: This variation is less difficult than the One Reset variation, but more difficult than the Infinite Resets variation. In this game, cards are flipped over one at a time, and you can redeal just once. Money Klondike A gambling variation similar to solitaire games that have been played in casinos. Played just like the standard game except that you start with -$52 (you "bet" 52 dollars), and you get $5 for each card you move to a foundation. See how much money you can win! Strategies Before your first play, flip the card from the stock to see what's available. However, don't play any cards from here except as a last resort. Make it your intention to uncover the cards hidden beneath the columns (if you can get these out, you will usually win). Whatever play creates the most card movement between columns (thus, building sequences) and results in flipping a hidden card will be the best move you can make. Before making a move, mentally forecast where it will end up. If it ends up at a dead end, look for something else. Click here for an example: Build your foundations up evenly when possible.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Demon Patience, Fascination, and Triangle. It is sometimes incorrectly called Canfield; Canfield is an entirely different game.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

La Belle Lucie Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations (started for you with aces), and sixteen tableau columns containing three cards each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in suit. No more than seven cards can be played to a column. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns cannot be filled. When play comes to a standstill, click on the Reset button to gather, shuffle, and redeal all the cards. Three redeals are allowed. Note: unlike the official Hoyle rules, this game is "merci"-less; namely, after the last redeal, any one card CANNOT be pulled out and played.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Only Two Redeals option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Check to see what top cards in the columns can be moved to the foundations first. Once you've exhausted these options, free up other cards that can be moved to the foundation. Any sequence of two cards of the same suit on a column are stuck (the higher card on the bottom can't be moved), so you should avoid building sequences in columns except when it frees up a card for the foundation. Once you are forced to build a sequence on a column, go ahead and stack up any additional cards that are available.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Alexander the Great, Clover Leaf, Midnight Oil, and Three Shuffles and a Draw.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Mount Olympus Goal: Build the first row of foundations up by odd numbers, in suit, and build the second row of foundations up by even numbers, in suit. Setup: The game begins with two rows of eight foundations--the top row containing four aces, the second row containing four Twos--and nine tableau columns containing one card each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the first row of foundations up by odd numbers, in suit, and the second row of foundations up by even numbers, in suit: First row: A, 3, 5, 7, 9, J, K Second row: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Q You can build the tableau columns down by twos, in suit. Single cards and packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns are automatically filled from the stock pile; when the stock pile is empty, you can fill columns with single or packed cards from the tableau. Click the stock pile to place a row of nine cards on the tableau, one to each column.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies It may take some time to get used to building down the tableau by twos in suit; make sure you don't miss any plays before you flip over a new card (to quickly check these, right-click each card to automatically move it). When given a choice of two identical cards to play to a foundation, play a card that will let you free up better cards underneath.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Nestor Goal: Play all cards to the foundation. Setup: The game begins with one foundation and six tableau columns containing seven cards each. The remaining cards are placed in ten separate reserve piles containing one card each.

How to Play Play pairs of cards of the same rank (two 5s, two jacks, etc.) to the foundation. Pairs may be played to the foundation in any sequence. You can select cards from the tableau (the topmost cards only) or cards from the reserve piles. To select a pair of cards, click the first card (the card becomes shaded), and then click another card. (To unselect a card, click it again.) If the cards match, they are automatically moved to the foundation.

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the Only Four reserve Cards option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, eight cards are dealt to each column, instead of seven, and only four cards are dealt to the reserve.

Strategies Match pairs from the tableau before taking cards from the reserve. Take cards that will unlock additional pairs. Never match a pair from the reserve; this doesn't help you at all. Just wait until they can be matched with a cards from the tableau.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Penguin Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, from a randomly selected card. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and seven tableau columns containing seven cards each. A random card is selected, and three cards of that rank are removed from the deck and placed on three of the four foundations. The last foundation card is randomly placed among the columns. There are seven reserve piles; each pile can hold one card.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up in suit, from the rank of the randomly selected card. You can wrap from king to ace, as necessary. You can build tableau columns down in suit, wrapping from ace to king as necessary. Each column can hold a maximum of eighteen cards. Single cards and fully packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns can be filled with single or fully packed cards from another column. The topmost card of a column can be moved to a reserve pile. Cards in the reserve piles can be played to a column or to a foundation.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Filling Empty Columns Restricted or Fourth Starter Card Dealt First in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With Filling Empty Columns Restricted selected, empty columns can be filled only with a card ranked one lower than the starting rank. Therefore, if the starting rank is 3, empty columns can only be filled with 2s (or fully packed cards starting with a 2), and if the starting rank is queen, empty columns can only be filled with jacks (or fully packed cards starting with a jack. With Fourth Starter Card Dealt First selected, the fourth foundation starter card is always dealt first, to the top of the first column.

Strategies Strategy for this game is similar to Four Free. Uncover low cards as soon as possible, and move them to the foundations.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Poker Square Goal: Score the highest possible poker hand in each row and column, thus scoring the highest possible overall score. To win, you must get a total score of at least 100 points. Setup: The game begins with a tableau containing 25 spaces (five rows and five columns). Each space in the tableau can only contain one card.

How to Play Cards are flipped from the stock pile one at a time. Each card must be placed in the tableau or on the waste pile. The waste pile can hold up to five cards. Try to place cards in the most advantageous positions to form the best poker hands. Click here for an example of a finished Poker Square: There are a total of ten hands--five rows and five columns. Once placed, a card cannot be moved again. When all the tableau spaces are filled, the game is over.

Scoring Each poker hand is scored according to the table below. Hand Score Definition (Example) Royal flush: 100 Ace, king, queen, jack, 10, all in the same suit Straight flush: 60 All five cards in sequence, all in the same suit (the 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of clubs) Four of a kind: 30 Four cards of the same rank (9 of hearts, 9 of spades, 9 of diamonds, and 9 of clubs) Straight: 25 All five cards in sequence, regardless of suit (7, 8, 9, 10, and jack) Full house: 20 Three of a kind and one pair (5, 5, 5, and 2, 2) Three of a kind: 15 Three cards of the same rank (8, 8, 8 of hearts) Flush: 10 All five cards in the same suit (the 3, 7, 10, jack, and king of hearts) Two pair: 5 Two pairs of cards, each with the same rank (4, 4, and 7, 7) One pair: 2 One pair of cards of the same rank (queen, queen) Note: The hands are not ranked as in Poker, but in accordance with their relative difficulty in the solitaire game (per Hoyle rule book).

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the No Waste Pile option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies Try to build straights and flushes in one direction (vertically or horizontally) and build pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, etc. in the opposite direction. Pairs and two pairs are worth so few points that, toward the end of the game you should avoid forming these combinations, unless you have no choice.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Pyramid Goal: Move all the cards from the tableau to the foundation . Setup: The game begins with twenty-eight cards dealt face up in a pyramid-shaped tableau, seven reserve piles containing one card each, and one waste pile.

How to Play Remove cards from the tableau, the reserve piles, and the waste pile in pairs which total 13. Aces are worth 1, jacks are worth 11, queens are worth 12, and kings are worth 13 (and can be removed by themselves). All other cards are worth their face value. Therefore, the cards that can be removed are ace+queen, 2+jack, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8, 6+7, and king. To select a pair of cards to remove, click the first card (the card becomes shaded), then click another card. If the cards add up to 13, they are automatically moved to the foundation. (To unselect a card, click it again.) Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time. Cards you don't use are automatically moved to a waste pile. The topmost card of the waste pile can also be used to form pairs. No redeals are allowed.

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Show Covered Cards Face Down, Play All Cards To Win, No reserve, or No Waste in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With Show Covered Cards Face Down selected, cards in the pyramid covered by other cards are shown face down. With Play All Cards To Win selected, all 52 cards in the deck (as opposed to just the cards in the tableau) must be played to the foundation in order to win. With this option off, the game will automatically end when the pyramid is removed, even if there are cards left in the reserve and waste piles.

Strategies First, try to match cards from the tableau. Then match them with cards from the stock if possible. Save the cards in the reserve until you no longer have any plays.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Red and Black Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king in alternating colors, regardless of suit. Setup: The game begins with eight foundations (started for you with aces), and eight tableau columns containing one card each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king in alternating colors (red-black-red-black or black-red-black-red), regardless of suit. For example, you would build a black Two on a red ace and a red Two on a black ace. You can build tableau columns down in alternating colors. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns are filled automatically with the upcard from the stock pile; if there is no upcard, columns are filled from the stock pile. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or a tableau column. One redeal is allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies This game is interesting in that building to the tableau sets you up for building to the foundations, so careful building is imperative. Remember when moving cards on the tableau that you can only move one card at a time, so if there are multiple cards in a sequence, you should move the highest cards first. (In other words, if you have a red 9, a black 8, and a red 7 on three different columns, move the black 8 onto the red 9 first, then move the red 7 onto the 8; if you move the red 7 onto the black 8 first, you won't be able to move the 7 and 8 onto the 9.) Whenever possible, play all of the cards in a column, since empty columns get filled by the upcard of the stock pile; this gives you more cards to play with on the tableau.

Other Names for this Game This game is very similar to Rouge et Noir.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Scorpion Goal: Build cards down on the tableau from king to ace, in suit. Setup: The game begins with seven tableau columns containing seven cards each (two cards face down in the first four columns). The remaining three cards form the stock pile.

How to Play You can build tableau columns down, in suit. Each column can hold a maximum of twenty-two cards. Any card that is face up (either partially or completely exposed) can be moved to the topmost card of another column, as long as the column is built down in suit from the topmost card. Cards below that card move with it. Click here for an example of how cards are moved: Empty columns can be filled with any card or group of cards. When play comes to a standstill, click the stock pile to flip the three cards in it to the first three columns. Continue play, if possible.

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the options for Three Cards Face Down (the game begins with three cards dealt face down in four of the columns) or Only Kings Fill Columns (empty columns can only be filled with kings or groups of cards starting with kings) in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies First, try to match cards from the tableau. Then match them with cards from the stock if possible. Save the cards in the reserve until you no longer have any plays.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Seahaven Towers Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and ten tableau columns containing five cards each. There are four reserve piles, two which contain one card each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in suit. Each column can hold a maximum of eighteen cards. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns can only be filled with kings. Cards from the reserve piles can be moved to the tableau or to the foundations. Any card can be moved to an empty reserve pile.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies Work to get the aces and low cards out of the columns and over to the foundations. When you find a move, perform it mentally to see where you end up. Then compare it to your other possible moves to see which one does the most good. This is important, because you can end up limiting your options if you're not careful. Try to empty columns to increase your mobility.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Shamrocks Goal: Build the foundations up, in suit, from a card you select. Setup: The game begins with four foundations, and all of the cards dealt to eighteen tableau rows; all of the rows contain three cards, except the last row, which only contains one card.

How to Play First, move the topmost card of one of the rows to a foundation. The card you select is used as the starting rank for all the foundations. Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up, in suit, from the rank of the selected card. You can wrap from king to ace, as necessary. You can build tableau rows up or down, regardless of suit, wrapping from king to ace and ace to king as necessary. However, no row can contain more than three cards at any one time. Empty rows cannot be filled.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Only Aces Start Foundations (foundations are built from ace to king) option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu).

Strategies To decide on the starting card for the foundations, look at the top half of the columns to see which cards are most prevalent. If there are a lot of cards of similar rankings (e.g., 5s, 6s, and 7s), pick the lower rank (5s in this example) for the foundations, since you're building up. Build up the foundations evenly. Since any card can be placed in an empty column, you will increase your options if you can pile lots of cards in relatively few columns. Stay away from building columns upwards (e.g., 3, 4, 5 with 5 on top), as you won't be able to move the lower card to the foundation.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Slide Goal: Arrange cards in the grid so that three cards of the same rank are aligned vertically. Form as many three-of-a-kind sets as possible. A score of 300 or greater wins the game. Setup: The game begins with twenty-four cards dealt face up in a 6 x 4 grid.

How to Play Try to align three cards of the same rank (three jacks, for instance) so that they are vertically aligned. You can move rows of cards left or right on the grid by "sliding" them. Click on the slider arrows on the ends of each column to move the cards. When three cards of the same rank align vertically, the set of three cards is removed from play and set to the side. Click here for an example: As cards slide to the right or left, the upcard from the stock pile is automatically placed at the beginning of the row, and a new card is flipped from the stock pile. Cards that slide off the end of a row are automatically placed onto the waste pile. However, if any two cards in the row (including the new card that was just added) have the same rank, the card that slides off the end of the row is placed at the bottom of the stock pile and is available to be played again. After cards are removed, you can fill empty spaces in the grid either by directly placing a card from the stock pile in the space, or by sliding a card to the space.

Scoring The first three-of-a-kind set scores 1 point times the rank of the set of three cards. The second three-of-a-kind set scores 2 points times the rank of the set. The third three-of-a-kind set scores 3 points times the rank of the set, and so on, up to 13 points times the rank of the set. aces are worth 1, jacks are worth 11, queens are worth 12, and kings are worth 13. All other cards (2 through 10) are worth face value.

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the All Slides To Waste Pile option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, all cards that slide off the end of a row go to the waste pile, regardless of whether there is another card of the same rank in the row.

Strategies Before sliding any cards, look carefully at your grid to see if there are any easy matches (three slides or less) Be sure you're not wasting many moves on low-ranking cards, especially late in the game when you're scoring on bigger multipliers. You only have 12 moves, so make them count.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Spider Goal: Build cards down on the tableau from king to ace, regardless of suit, and remove each completed set from the tableau. Setup: The game begins with ten tableau columns; the first four columns contain six cards, and the next six columns contain five cards. The topmost card of each column is face up, the rest are face down.

How to Play You can build tableau columns down from king to ace, regardless of suit. Each column can hold a maximum of twenty-five cards. Single cards and fully packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns can be filled with single or fully packed cards. When play comes to a standstill, click the stock pile to place a row of ten cards on the tableau, one to each column. When a set is completed within a column (descending from king to ace), it is automatically removed from the tableau.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies As in Klondike, your best moves are those that uncover hidden cards, so play accordingly. Because there is no redeal, complete all possible moves in the tableau before choosing cards from the stock.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Spiderette Goal: Build cards down on the tableau from king to ace, regardless of suit, and remove each completed set from the tableau. Setup: The game begins with seven tableau columns; each column contains two face down cards and one face up card.

How to Play Build tableau columns down from king to ace, regardless of suit. Each column can hold a maximum of twenty-five cards. Single cards and fully packed cards can be moved between columns. Empty columns can be filled with single or fully packed cards. When play comes to a standstill, click the stock pile to place a row of seven cards on the tableau, one to each column. Continue play, if possible. When a set is completed within a column (descending from king to ace), it is automatically removed from the tableau.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Three Cards Face Down option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, the game begins with three cards dealt face down in each column, instead of two.

Strategies As in Klondike, your best moves are those that uncover hidden cards, so play accordingly. Because there is no redeal, complete all possible moves in the tableau before choosing cards from the stock.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Strategy Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations, started for you with aces, and eight empty tableau columns.

How to Play The stock pile is flipped one card at a time. Play each flipped card to any of the eight tableau columns, regardless of suit or rank. Each column can hold a maximum of thirteen cards. Once a card is played to a column, it cannot be moved until all cards have been played from the stock pile to the columns. After all cards have been played to the columns, play as many cards as possible to the foundations, building up from ace to king, in suit. Cards cannot be moved between columns. No redeals are allowed.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Only Six Columns option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). This gives you only six columns, rather than eight.

Strategies Since kings are played last, you might want to use one column just for kings (or kings and queens). Be careful never to place a card on the bottom of a column that already contains a lower ranking card in the same suit (placing a 10 of spades on a column that already contains a 6 of spades, for example). Otherwise, you won't be able to finish the game. Place lower cards on top of higher cards generally. Ideally, if you can get four consecutive cards of one rank together (e.g., four jacks), that will help later. If you can get three or four consecutive cards of one rank together, begin placing cards of the next lowest rank right on top of these (note the kings in the example below). This game is easier to manage if you place lower cards on one side and move up to the higher cards on the other side. In the example below, you should play the queen of diamonds on the king. Otherwise, you will be blocking the 10 or the jack of diamonds.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Sultan Goal: Build the foundations up (from ace to king and from king to queen, depending on the foundation), in suit. Setup: The game begins with the king of hearts (the Sultan) placed in the middle of the tableau. Eight foundations are placed surrounding the Sultan; seven foundations contain one king each, and the eighth foundation (above the Sultan) contains the ace of hearts. There are four tableau piles on each side of the Sultan; these piles can hold one card each.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up, in suit. Build the top middle foundation (the ace) from ace to king, and the other seven foundations from king to queen, wrapping from king to ace. You can fill empty tableau piles with cards from the stock pile (each pile can hold one card). Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to a foundation or an empty tableau pile. Two redeals are allowed.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Gameplay Hint Since you can fill the empty tableau piles at any time, you might want to wait to fill a pile with a card you'll need soon, rather than filling it right away.

Strategies Since you can fill the empty tableau piles at any time, you might want to wait to fill a pile with a card you'll need soon, rather than filling it right away.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Emperor of Germany and Sultan of Turkey.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Terrace Goal: Build the foundations up, in alternating colors, starting with a card you select. Setup: The game begins with nine tableau columns; the first three columns contain one card each. A reserve pile contains eleven overlapping cards.

How to Play First, move one of the three initial tableau cards to one of the eight foundations. That card is used as the starting rank for all the foundations. Once you've done that, one card is dealt to each of the remaining tableau columns. Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up in alternating colors from the rank of the card you selected. Wrap from king to ace, as necessary. You can build tableau columns down in alternating colors. Each column can hold a maximum of fifteen cards. You can wrap from ace to king, as necessary. Only the topmost card of a column can be moved to another column. Empty columns are filled automatically with the upcard from the stock pile; if there is no upcard, columns are filled from the stock pile. Click the stock pile to flip cards one at a time; the upcard can be played to the foundations or a tableau column. The topmost card in the reserve pile can be played to the foundations. Cards in the reserve piles cannot be played to the tableau. No redeals are allowed in Terrace.

Game Actions Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible.

Strategies When picking the initial card to use to start the foundations, look at the reserve pile to see which cards will be available soon, and which won't. If there are two 5s buried deep in the reserve pile, 5 (or 4, or 3) may not be a good choice as a starting rank for the foundations.

Other Names for this Game This game is also known as Queen of Italy.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Triplets Goal: Play all cards except one to the foundation by removing them in sets of three cards of sequential rank, regardless of suit. Setup: The game begins with sixteen tableau rows containing three cards each, and two tableau rows containing two cards each.

How to Play Remove the topmost cards from rows in sets of three cards sequential cards (known as "triplets"), regardless of suit. For example, 7-8-9, 2-3-4, and 3-4-5 are all triplets. K-A-2 is also a triplet. To select a set of three cards, click on each card in the set (cards become shaded). To unselect a card, click it again. When a valid triplet is selected, the set is automatically moved to the foundation. Cards cannot be moved between rows.

Scoring Triplets uses traditional scoring, except that if the last card left is a king, the score triples.

Game Options To make the game more difficult, choose the Three Different Suits option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, the three cards in each triplet must all be of different suits.

Strategies In order to win, your first set must determine all your subsequent sets (e.g., if you select a 3, 4, 5, try to obtain a K, A, 2, a 6, 7, 8, and so on). Try to pull one card from each rank before taking a second card from any rank, and take all your second cards before third cards, etc. When you have options in your selections (e.g., two 9s are available), take the one that covers a card you'll need to match in the next few plays. Avoid taking the bottom card in a pile unless there are no other cards of the same rank available elsewhere.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Yukon Goal: Build the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. Setup: The game begins with four foundations and seven tableau columns. The first column has one face up card; the other six columns, left to right, have increasing numbers of face down cards (starting with one face down card in the second column, then two, three, four, five, and six), and five face up cards in each column.

How to Play Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building the foundations up from ace to king, in suit. You can build tableau columns down in any suit other than the suit being built upon (for example, a five of spades can be played on a six of clubs, hearts, or diamonds, but not on a six of spades). Each column can hold a maximum of twenty-two cards. Any card that is face up (either partially or completely exposed) can be played to another column. Cards below that card move with it. Click here for an example of how cards are moved: Empty columns can only be filled with kings or groups of cards starting with kings.

Game Actions and Options Right-click a card to move it automatically, if possible. To make the game more difficult, choose the Columns In Alternating Colors option in the game settings (click Settings on the Game menu). With this option selected, the tableau columns must be built in alternating colors (black or red, red on black).

Strategies Try to free up aces right away, if you can, before moving other cards. Try to uncover face down cards as soon as you can. As soon as all the cards are revealed, you should be able to win the game! As in Klondike, your best moves are those that uncover hidden cards, so play accordingly.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Arcade Solitaire 3 Towers Goal: Get the highest score possible by removing cards from the towers before time runs out. Get points for removing cards, for clearing an entire tower, and for making runs. 3 Towers has two rounds of play; each round lasts 60 seconds. Finishing the second round with more than 50,000 points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 75,000 wins the game.

How to Play One card is flipped from the stock pile; this is the upcard. Click a card in the tableau that is one higher or one lower than the upcard to move that card to the deck, then click another card one higher or lower than that upcard, and so on. For example, if a 5 is on the deck, you could click these cards on the tableau, in order: 6, 7, 8, 9, 8, 7, 8, 9. You can wrap from king to ace and from ace to king. When you cannot find a card higher or lower than the upcard, click the stock pile to get a new card, and try again. When you've played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you're on the last round).

Scoring You get 100 points for each card you clear from the tableau. Clearing additional cards after the first card, without having to flip up a card, is a run. The number of current runs is shown on the screen. Each time you add a card to a run, you get 100 more points for that card. For example, if you have cleared 4 cards in a row, you get 100 for the first card, 200 for the second card, 300 for the third card, and 400 for the fourth card. As soon as your run ends (and you have to click the stock pile to get a new card), your number of runs is reset; the first card you clear is again worth 100, and additional cards in a run increase the score. Each time you have to click the stock pile to get a new card, your score is decreased by 100 points. Clearing a tower is worth 5,000 points. Clearing a second tower gives you 10,000 points, and clearing the third tower gives you 15,000 points. Finishing a round quickly gives you a time bonus. You get 100 points for each second remaining on the clock when you click the Take Score button.

Strategies If possible, choose cards in the tableau that form long sequences, because you get more points that way. Otherwise, choose cards that maximize the number of other cards in the tableau that will become exposed.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Best 21 Goal: Get the highest score possible by making five high scoring blackjack hands before time runs out. Best 21 has three rounds of play; each round lasts 45 seconds. Finishing the third round with more than 120,000 points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 160,000 or more points wins the game.

How to Play Move cards one at a time from the stock pile to one of the five blackjack hands, or to the reserve pile. The reserve pile can only hold one card each round. Play cards to try to make hands that score 21 or close to 21, without going over 21. Click here for an example:

Current hand totals are shown next to the hand. Jacks, queens, and kings are worth 10, aces are worth 1 or 11, and all other cards are worth their face value. Note that although aces are worth 1 or 11, only their "hard" value is shown. In other words, an ace and an 8 are shown as 19, not 9, although they can be worth either 9 or 19. You can hit these "hard" hands, if desired. Busting any hand (going over 21) ends the round immediately. When you've played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you're on the last round).

Scoring You score 100 times the total of all your final blackjack hands. Getting 21 in any hand gives you a bonus of 10,000. Finishing a round quickly gives you a time bonus; you score 100 times the amount of seconds remaining on the clock when you finish the round. For example, If you got hands of 21, 20, 20, 18, and 15, with 32 seconds left on the clock, you'd get this score: 9,400 points for your five hands (21 + 20 + 20 + 18 + 15 = 94 x 100=9400) + 10,000 points for the hand of 21 + 3,200 point time bonus (32 seconds left x 100) = 22,600 points total

Strategies Try to form piles of 11, since cards with the value 10 are the most common. Of course, you'll want to use your aces on piles of 10 or 20.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Fast 21 Goal: Get the highest score possible before time runs out. You get points for making high blackjack hands, and for making 21s and 5-card Charlies (5 cards under 21). You also get points for each card you're able to use in a hand. Fast 21 has three rounds of play; each round lasts 90 seconds. Finishing the third round with more than 30,000 points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 40,000 or more points wins the game.

How to Play Move cards one at a time from the stock pile to one of the four blackjack hands or to the reserve pile. The reserve pile can hold three cards each round. Play cards to try to make hands that score 21 or close to 21, without going over 21. Click here for an example:

Making a hand of 21 or a 5-card Charlie (5 cards under 21) in a hand clears that hand so you can play on it again (and gives you bonus points). Current hand totals are shown next to the hand. Jacks, queens, and kings are worth 10, aces are worth 1 or 11, and all other cards are worth their face value. Note that although aces are worth 1 or 11, only their "hard" value is shown. In other words, an ace and an 8 are shown as 19, not 9, although they can be worth either 9 or 19. You can hit these "hard" hands, if desired. If you play a card that busts a hand (makes it go over 21), that card is returned to the stock pile and your score is reduced by 100 points. You can then play that card to another pile or to the reserve pile (or end the round if you can't play it). When you've played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you're on the last round).

Scoring You score 1,000 points for each 21 you get in a round, and 750 points for each 5-card Charlie. Busting a hand reduces your score by 100 points. You also score 100 points for each card you played to a blackjack hand in the round, and you score the total of all other hands you make. (You score points for each card as you play it, but if you make 21 or a Charlie in a hand you only get points for the 21 or Charlie.) Playing all 52 cards to the blackjack hands (without passing any cards) scores you a bonus 10,000 points. For example, if you got three 21s and one 5-card Charlie, with 22 cards played to the blackjack hands, and final hands of 20, 20, 18, and 17, you'd get this score: 3,750 points for the three 21s and one Charlie + 2,200 points for playing 22 cards + 75 points for your four hands (20+20+18+17=75) = 6,025 points total

Strategies Use the same strategies as for Best 21. Also, if you don't have a good place to put low cards, keep them in a separate hand to try to form 5-card Charlies.

See Also How to Play Solitaire

Pick 2 Goal: Get the highest score possible by removing cards in pairs and sequences before time runs out. Pick 2 has two rounds of play; each round lasts 60 seconds. Finishing the second round with 80,000 or more points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 120,000 or more points wins the game.

How to Play One card is flipped from the stock pile. You can use this upcard, as well as the cards on the tableau, to make pairs (2-2, Q-Q, and so on) and sequences (4-5, 9-10, Q-K). Both A-2 and K-A can be used as sequences. Pairs and sequences do not have to include the upcard. Click on two cards to select them; if the cards are a pair or sequence, they are removed. To unselect a card, click it again. When you can't make any more combinations, click the stock pile to get a new card, and try again. The previous card is moved to the tableau (if there's space available). Otherwise, it is moved to the bottom of the stock pile. When you've played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you're on the last round).

Scoring You get 3,000 points for each pair you remove, and 500 points for each sequence you remove. If you clear all of the cards on the tableau, you get a bonus 10,000 points. Finishing a round quickly gives you a time bonus. You get 100 points for each second remaining on the clock when you click the Take Score button.

Strategies When possible, remove pairs instead of sequences, since you get more points for pairs. Choose pairs and sequences in such a way that favorable cards will become exposed.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Sum 11 Goal: Get the highest score possible by removing combinations of cards which total 11 before time runs out. Sum 11 has two rounds of play; each round lasts 90 seconds. Finishing the second round with 80,000 or more points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 120,000 points wins the game. Sum 11 uses a special card deck with 2-10 of each suit, 16 aces, and no face cards. Aces are always worth 1 (never 11).

How to Play One card is flipped from the stock pile. You can use this upcard, as well as the cards on the tableau, to make combinations of cards (using any number of cards) that add up to eleven. Combinations do not have to include the upcard. For example, if the upcard was a 6, and there was an ace and a 4 on the tableau, you could select the 6, ace, and 4 to make eleven. Or you could select an 8 and 3 on the tableau to make eleven. Click on cards to select them; when you've selected cards that add up to eleven, they are removed. To unselect a card, click it again. When you can't make any more combinations, click the stock pile to get a new card, and try again. The previous card is moved to the tableau (if there's space available). Otherwise, it is moved to the bottom of the stock pile. When you've played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you're on the last round).

Scoring You get 1,500 points for each combination of elevens you remove. If you clear all of the cards on the tableau, you get a bonus 10,000 points. You also get points for each card you remove from the tableau based on which row that card is in, with higher rows worth more points. The bottom row is worth 100, the next up is worth 200, and so on. Each time you have to click the stock pile to get a new card, your score is decreased by 200 points. Finishing a round quickly gives you a time bonus. You get 100 points for each second remaining on the clock when you click the Take Score button.

Strategies Be on the lookout for all the different ways cards can add up to 11: 5-6, 7-4, 8-3, 9-2, 10-A, 6-3-A-A, and so on. Remove cards in such a way that as many other cards as possible are exposed.

See Also How to Play Solitaire Glossary build up Assemble cards into an exact numeric sequence from low rank to high. Usually cards are built up from ace to king, as shown: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king build down Assemble cards into an exact numeric sequence from high rank to low. Usually cards are built down from king to ace, as shown: King, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, ace foundation A pile of cards on the screen that you move cards to in a certain order. Most games require you to win the game by moving cards to foundations. Many foundations are started with an ace, and built up in sequential order to king. fully packed cards A group of cards, usually in a tableau column, that have been built up or built down according to the rules of the game and cannot be moved except as a single unit. packed cards A group of cards, usually in a tableau column, that have been built up or built down according to the rules of the game. You can often move packed cards as a unit. redeal To flip the stock pile and go through the cards again. This can also mean to deal a new set of cards to the tableau (sometimes involving shuffling). Many games don't allow a redeal, or allow only one, two, or three redeals. Other games allow unlimited redeals. reserve pile An area used to hold one or more cards, usually temporarily. stock pile A pile of face-down cards. Cards are flipped over (usually one or three at a time) and can usually be played to the tableau or to foundations. You sometimes need to click the stock pile to reveal new cards. tableau The layout of cards on the table. In many games, cards can be moved within the tableau to try to make cards available to be moved to the foundations. tableau column Cards dealt or placed vertically on the tableau. In a column, only the topmost card is available unless specifically indicated in the game rules. tableau pile Cards dealt or placed on the tableau in a single pile (one on top of another), usually face up. In a pile, only the topmost card is available unless specifically indicated in the game rules. tableau row Cards dealt or placed horizontally on the tableau. If a row is overlapping, only the topmost card is available unless specifically indicated in the rules. topmost card The fully exposed card at the bottom of a column, the edge of a row or the top of a pile. This card must be played before cards beneath it can be played. trick Cards played and won in a single round of a card game. Winning a trick is referred to as "taking" that trick. trump A card, or the suit, which is especially privileged to win over cards of other suits. upcard A face-up card that is available for play, usually to the tableau. Usually the upcard is flipped from the stock. waste pile A pile of cards that is usually made up of cards from the stock pile that couldn't be used. The upcard (top card) of the waste pile is usually available for play. wrapping When the sequence of cards (building up or building down) is continued by playing an ace on a king or a king on an ace. For example, if wrapping is allowed in a game, you could build up on a jack like this: Jack, queen, king, ace, 2, 3, 4… or build down on a 4 like this: 4, 3, 2, ace, king, queen, jack... Solitaire Background Solitaire games exist in hundreds, if not thousands, of variations. All follow one of two principles: you're either building sequences by adding cards on top of foundation cards, or you're subtracting cards from the opening tableau. Subtraction games form the majority of Solitaires and were the most popular in the 1800s. Today, the addition games rule. Whether adding or subtracting, winning (making the game come out) depends on two things—choice and information. In most subtraction games, your choices are limited (if you have any at all beyond "playing it as it lays"). In most addition games, you have much more leeway in what you can and can't do. In those games, the more cards you can read, the more analytical the game becomes. It may be possible to become too analytical. In The Games Treasury, Merilyn Simonds Mohr recounts the saga of Lewis Sutter of New York, a retiree who happily buckled down to the task of playing Solitaire on the first day he woke up and didn't have to go to work. Ten years later, Sutter had played 150,000 hands and had recorded every game in 10 accounting ledgers. To each his own...

Tarot Lite Solitaire first appeared in print as Cabale in a German games book in 1783. According to Mohr, Patience (the English name for Solitaire games) was first designed as a lighthearted way to foretell the future. In the late 18th century, the people of Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were also playing Cabale, a word that approximately means "secret knowledge." We know the first reliable report of fortune-telling with Tarot cards appeared in 1765, so it seems likely that Solitaire (Cabale) was originally intended to be a sort of "Tarot Lite." The first book entirely devoted to Patience was published in Moscow in 1826. Six more books appeared before 1850, all of them in one of the Scandinavian languages or in Polish. This seems to point toward an origin somewhere in or near the Baltics. The Swedes have been suggested more than once as the originators, but the evidence is not conclusive. Tolstoy's War and Peace (published in installments in the 1860s) has several references to Patience, one in a scene set in 1808. Tolstoy was a stickler for historic detail and most likely would not have used the game in this way if he hadn't had a source to back it up.

The English Learn Patience We can assume that Cabale was unknown in England before the 1800s, as it never appeared in the Gamester books of the 1600s and 1700s. When the English did learn of Cabale, they christened it Patience, possibly because patience is the virtue these games were supposed to teach. (Anyone who's ever played the Klondike variation and been tempted to take just one peek knows these games also teach honor.) The first English-language book on the subject came from an American, Annie B. Henshaw, in 1870: Amusements for Invalids. The title gives you an idea of the lack of respect Solitaire sometimes provokes. "Games for one player are childish and simple, and not worth learning," wrote one critic in The Card Players Manual of 1876. "When a man is reduced to such a pass as playing cards by himself, he had better give up!" In England, Patience enjoyed a higher stature. Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was the most famous Patience devotee of the time (Albert was originally from Germany, where he'd played several versions of Cabale as a boy). In 1874, The Illustrated Games of Patience by Lady Adelaide Cadogan appeared, and the popularity of Patience soared. People began inventing new variants, which by the 1890s filled a seven-book series. The 1890s was the decade of the first travel agents and the first guided tours, and the compiler of those seven books, Mary Whitmore-Jones, was also the inventor of a special lap board for playing Patience while traveling.

The Great White North When most Americans say they play Solitaire, they are referring to the popular Klondike variation. Klondike began as Canfield in Saratoga, New York. A saloon keeper there invented the game as a gambling mechanism to suck more money from his customers. (He later claimed that his roulette wheels were much more lucrative.) The customer paid $50 for a pack of cards and received $5 for each card he or she built on an ace. Since five or six cards on the foundations is the average, the customer lost $20 to $25 per game. This sounds like a poor deal for the customer, and yet people flocked to play, trying for that big payoff. When the Gold Rush to the Yukon Territory started in 1896, Canfield went along. It soon became associated with the entire phenomenon and was eventually dubbed Klondike, after that section of the Yukon Territory where gold was first discovered. "Described in one memoir as a 'vicious gambling Patience,' Klondike was undoubtedly responsible for a few fortunes changing hands," Mohr wrote. So to summarize: Most Americans call Klondike Solitaire. In Britain this Patience is called Canfield. And in America, the Solitaire we call Canfield is the Patience the British call Demon. (Got that?) Making a Face in FaceCreator You can use FaceCreator to create a unique picture to represent yourself while you're playing games. You can make just one face to represent yourself, or you can make several different faces and choose a different face each time you play! Click one of the topics below to learn more about FaceCreator: Starting FaceCreator Using FaceCreator The FaceCreator Screen Using BackTalk Starting FaceCreator There are several different ways to start FaceCreator.

To start FaceCreator: In the Sign In dialog box, click the FaceCreator button. OR From the Main Screen, click the FaceCreator picture on the screen, or click FaceCreator on the Go To menu. OR In the Players dialog box, click the Face button next to your face. You will be taken to a Settings screen; click the FaceCreator button to start FaceCreator. Note: If you start FaceCreator from the Sign In screen, the face you make is automatically assigned to the currently selected player. And if you make a face when you're already signed in, it is automatically assigned to you.

To change an existing FaceCreator face: In FaceCreator, click the Load button, select the face you want to change, and then click OK to load that face into FaceCreator. Click here to learn how to use FaceCreator:

See Also Using FaceCreator The FaceCreator Screen Using BackTalk Using Spacemaker Using FaceCreator You can create a unique picture for yourself using FaceCreator. You can start with a new face, or load a previously created face by clicking the Load button. For a detailed explanation of the FaceCreator screen, click here:

To make a face in FaceCreator: 1 Click a feature (head, eyes, nose, and so on) on the FaceCreator screen. The feature will be selected, and pictures you can use for the feature appear in the 12 feature boxes at the top of the screen. You can select features in any order, and you don't have to specify every feature (your face can have no nose, for example). 2 Select the picture you want to use for that feature. To see additional screens of pictures, click on the numbered buttons or on the left and right arrows under the two rows of pictures. Note: For eyes and eyebrows, you can select matching pairs, or you can select different left and right eyes and eyebrows, if you like. When you click on eyes or eyebrows, a selection box pops up with the choices left only, right only, and both. Click on which side or sides you wish to change (both is the default choice), then select the new feature. 3 You can move features around on the face by clicking the arrow buttons surrounding the sample face or by clicking the arrow keys on your keyboard. All features except the body, head, and clothes can be moved. If you move a feature and want it moved back where it was originally, click the Center button. 4 Add any other features you want. 5 Select one of the four skin tones for your face. 6 Choose a voice for your character. There are five male voices, and five female voices. Click on the Voice Selection Menu right below your character to select a voice. You can preview the selected voice by clicking on the speaker icon 7 Click Exit to exit FaceCreator. Your face is saved automatically. If you want to make multiple faces before exiting, you can click save to save your current face before making a different one. If you loaded a different face earlier and made changes to that face, you are asked if you want to save the new face you created over the old face. Click OK to save the face over the old face, or click Cancel to save the face as a new face. Assign faces you have made to players using the Sign In screen.

To change an existing face: 1 Click the load button. 2 Make any desired changes to the face. 3 Click save. A dialog will appear: you can either save over the face you changed by then clicking Update, or save the changes as a new face without deleting the old one by clicking add. 4 If you click exit after changing a loaded face without having saved it, you are asked if you want to save the changes to the face. Click Yes to open the dialog in step 3, click No to exit FaceCreator without saving, or click Cancel to return to FaceCreator.

To remove a feature from the face: 1 Select the feature you want to remove. 2 Click the Clear button.

To clear the entire face: Click the New button to start a new face from scratch. Your current face will be cleared.

To delete a FaceCreator face: You can remove any FaceCreator faces that you no longer want in the Sign In dialog box. Select the face you want to delete using the scroll bar below the face window, then click the Delete button to the right of the face. (You can do this when you sign in to start the game, or you can open the Sign In dialog box by clicking Sign In on the File menu from the Main Screen.)

Notes and Tips: Moving eyebrows to different heights is a good subtle way to add personality to your face. Moving a nose downward can create an impression of a longer nose; moving it upward can make a shorter nose. Be creative! Many items can be moved anywhere on the face. Clothing is specific to the body you select. If you select an article of clothing and then change your body, you may need to select new clothes for your new body. To quickly create a unique new face, click the Random button. (This is good if you're not feeling creative, but still want a change.) You can still make changes to the random face, if you want. Be careful when using this button as this will erase the face currently on the screen.

See Also Starting FaceCreator The FaceCreator Screen Using BackTalk Using Spacemaker Using BackTalk In previous versions of the Hoyle products, your character would sit quietly while the Hoyle characters did all the talking. Now, you can get in on the conversation! Each character plaque, including yours, has two face buttons on it.

Hoyle Character Buttons Player Character Buttons If you click on a Hoyle character's happy-faced heart button, you will say something kind to them. If you click on their horn-headed devilish button, you will do a little trash talking, or perhaps play a slapstick prank on them. The Hoyle characters will respond to your comments or actions. As for yourself, if you are feeling good or feeling bad, you can say so by clicking the appropriate icon on your plaque. The Hoyle characters may have something to say about the way you feel, too.

Notes and Tips: You can also use your keyboard to talk with your character. 1 and 2 are shortcuts for your character's buttons. 2 and 3 are shortcuts for the Hoyle character to your left, and so on going clockwise around the table. If you use a face saved from a Hoyle product without BackTalk, or if you use one of the non-talking characters to represent yourself, you will not be able to use the BackTalk feature.

See Also Starting FaceCreator The FaceCreator Screen Using FaceCreator Using Spacemaker The FaceCreator Screen Click the picture of FaceCreator below to get help with that part of FaceCreator:

To get a step-by-step description of how to use FaceCreator, click here: Facial Features Shows all of the available options for the current feature you are working with. Click the left and right arrow buttons to move through the pages of options, or click a numbered button to move to a specific page. Head Selects the shape of your head. Body Selects your body type. Both male and female body types are shown. Skin Tone Selects the skin tone for your head and body. Eyebrows Selects eyebrows. To select matching eyebrows, just click the mannequin head on the picture of eyebrows you want. To select a different left or right eyebrow, click left only or right only above the eyebrows selection area and then select the eyebrow picture you want . Eyes Selects eyes. To select matching eyes, just click the mannequin head on the picture of eyes you want. To select a different left or right eye, click left only or right only above the eyes selection area and then select the eye picture you want . Eye/Eyebrow selection area Appears when you select eyes or eyebrows. This lets you individually select eyes or eyebrows to add character to a face. To select just the left eye or eyebrow, select left only, to select just the right eye or eyebrow, select right only. To select both eyes or eyebrows (the normal selection), select both. Nose Selects a nose. Move the nose up and down to lengthen or shorten it. Mouth Selects a mouth. Face Shows the face in progress, with any features you have added to your face. Click on the arrows to move the currently selected feature around on the face. All features except the body and clothes can be moved. Click the Center button to center the current feature, or click the Clear button to clear the feature you just added to the face. Center button Centers the currently selected feature if it has been moved. Clear button Removes the currently selected feature from your face. arrow Moves the currently selected feature in the face in the direction indicated. All features except the body and clothes can be moved. Hair and Hats Selects hair and hat combinations. Clothes Selects clothing for your body. You will only see clothes that fit the body shape you chose. Eye wear Selects glasses or other accessories for your eyes. Some glasses will hide your eyes. Facial Hair Selects a variety of types of facial hair. Save button Resets the current face, and removes all of the face's features, so you can start a new face from scratch. Load button Loads an existing FaceCreator face so that you can make changes to it. Help button Brings up this help file. Exit button Exits FaceCreator, saving the current face. If you loaded a face into FaceCreator, you have the option to overwrite the old face or save the face as a completely new face.

Voice Selection Choose a voice for your FaceCreator charater. Voice Sample Click to hear a sample line from the currently selected voice. New Button Click to make a new face Random Button Click to make a face from random FaceCreator parts.

How to Play Rummy 500 Rummy 500 is played by two people with the standard 52-card pack. Each player receives a hand of 13 cards, and the rest of the pack is placed face down; this is the stock. The top card of the stock is turned up and placed beside the stock in a discard pile. In Rummy 500, all discards are available to draw, not just the top one; the discard pile is fanned out so that each card is visible. There are three phases to a turn: 1 Drawing: You can either draw the top card of the stock, or draw from the discard pile. When drawing from the discard pile, you can take the top card, or you can take a card farther down in the pile, but there are some restrictions: If you take the top card of the discard pile, you must play it to the table in the current turn. You can change the game options to not require you to play this card; in this case, if you draw this card, you must discard a different card. If you take a card farther down in the discard pile, you must be able to play that card to the table in the current turn, and you must also take all the cards above that card in the discard pile into your hand. The card you have to meld that turn will be raised slightly in your hand as a reminder. 2 Playing cards to the table: This is optional. You can move sets and sequences, called melds, from your hand to the table; this is known as melding. For details, see Playing Cards, below. You can also play cards that extend existing melds (either yours or your opponent's). You get points for each card you play to the table. You can meld as many cards as you like. 3 Discarding: You must end your turn by discarding a card to the top of the discard pile. The exception to this rule is if you have melded all the cards in your hand (ending the hand); in this case, no discard is necessary. The hand continues with each player taking a turn until one player has played all of his or her cards to the table (discarding if necessary), ending the hand. The hand can also end if all of the cards in the stock are drawn, and the person whose turn it is does not want to draw from the discard pile (or cannot); that player passes, ending the game. You play multiple hands until one player reaches 500 points or more at the end of a hand; that player wins the game. In the event of a tie, further hands are played until there is a single winner.

Playing Cards The object of Rummy is to get points by playing cards to melds on the table. Melds are sets (three or four cards of the same rank, such as 8 8 8 or K K K K ) or sequences (three or more consecutive cards in the same suit, such as 9 10 J or 4 5 6 7 ). In Rummy, cards are ranked from 2 through king (2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K), but the ace can be used either at the low end of a sequence (A-2-3) or the high end (Q-K-A). All cards you play to the table score points, whether you play them to your melds or your opponent's. The table below shows the point values for the different cards:

Card Points A 15 points* when used in a set or as a high card in a sequence (Q-K-A) 1 point when used as the low card in a sequence (A-2-3) K, Q, J, 10 10 points 2-9 Face value* (6=six points, 7=seven points, and so on) * You can set the game options so that aces score five points when used as the low card in a sequence, and 2-9 score 5 points each instead of face value. Other cards' values do not change. Click here for scoring examples: Note that cards must be played to the table to score points. Sets and sequences in a player's hand are not worth anything. The value of any cards remaining in a player's hand at the end of the hand count against them: the points for those cards are totaled and subtracted from that player's score. Aces are worth 15 points in this case.

Playing the Game 1 On your turn, draw a card by clicking the stock, or click a card in the discard pile to take it. If you take a card in the discard pile that's not the top card, any cards above that card in the pile also come into your hand. 2 Play cards to the table, as desired: To make a new meld, drag a card to the green meld square on the table. You can then drag the other cards in the meld to that meld. You will not be allowed to drag a card into a meld if it cannot be part of that meld. Note: You can make as many new melds on your turn as desired; as soon as you place a card on the table, a new meld square appears. To play a card on an existing meld: drag the card on top of that meld. You can play to any meld, regardless of who started it. If the card is a legal extension of the meld, it will snap into place; otherwise, it will be returned to your hand. Note: Cards played to the table on your current turn are highlighted to help you keep track of what cards you can still move around. 3 At the end of your turn, discard a card in your hand by right-clicking it or dragging it to the discard pile. 4 The hand ends when a player plays the last card in his or her hand to the table (regardless of whether that card is melded or discarded). The hand also ends if one player passes (because all the stock cards are drawn and that player chooses not to or cannot draw from the discard pile). If this occurs on your turn, you're presented a Pass button; click this button to end the hand. The game ends when a hand ends with one player having reached at least 500 points. In the event of a tie, further hands are played until there is a single winner.

Notes: To replay the current turn from the beginning, click the Reset button. You cannot do this if you have drawn the top card from the draw pile, since this would let you "peek" at the card and then return it. To step back one move in your turn (for example, to pick up the last card you added to a meld), click the Step Back button. You can step back multiple moves until you reach the beginning of your turn. If you try to draw a card from the discard pile that you can't play in the current turn, you will be notified by a warning message.

Game Options You can set the rules for the game, how the game is set up, and how the game is played. You can change all the options before the game begins. Once the game has begun, changing some options may require you to restart the game.

To set game rules and options: 1 Click the Rummy 500 Settings menu item on the Options menu. 2 Make the changes you want. 3 Click OK to save your changes.

Option Description Card Values Changes how certain cards are scored in the game. Click 2-9 and Low Aces Are Worth Pip Value (the default) to make 2-9 worth their face value (2 = two points, 3 = three points, 4 = four points, and so on); 10s and face cards (J, Q, K) worth 10 points; and aces worth either 15 points when used in a set or when used as a high card in a sequence (A-K-Q), or one point when used as a low card in a sequence (A-2-3). Click 2-9 and Low Aces Are Worth Five Points to make 2-9 worth five points each; 10s and face cards (J, Q, K) worth 10 points; and aces worth either 15 points when used in a set or as a high card in a sequence (A-K-Q), or five points when used as a low card in a sequence (A-2-3). Scoring Selects how scoring occurs at the end of a hand. Using the standard Loser Subtracts Points From Score option, if you go out, your opponent subtracts the points remaining in their hand from their score. Click Winner Adds Points to Score to play a game variation where the winning player receives any points remaining in the opponents' hand. If neither player goes out, each player subtracts the total points remaining in his or her hand from his or her respective score. Melding the Top Discard Is Optional Lets you take the top card of the discard pile without having to meld it on this turn. This option is off by default, meaning that you must meld the top discard if you take it. If this option is turned on, and you draw the top discard, you must discard a different card to the pile. Difficulty Level Sets the difficulty for the game to Easy, Normal, or Hard. Note: To sort cards, press the SHIFT key to spread the cards apart, then drag cards where you want them to be. New cards are sorted automatically by the computer.

See Also Rummy 500 Strategies and Tips Rummy 500 Background Drawing from the Discard Pile Add example like the one in spec, using in-game screenshot Scoring Examples K-K-K is worth 30 points. 7-7-7 is worth 21 points. 3-4-5 is worth 12 points. 9-10-J is worth 29 points (9 + 10 + 10). J-Q-K-A is worth 45 points (10 + 10 + 10 + 15). A-2-3 is worth 6 points (1 + 2 + 3). Playing a card to an existing meld gives you points only for that card: Playing a K to a 10-J-Q sequence gives you 10 points. Playing a 3 to a 3-3-3 set gives you 3 points. Rummy 500 Strategies and Tips Try these strategies and tips to improve your Rummy 500 game.

General Strategies Success in Rummy depends largely on keeping track of the discards. From this you'll know which of your own combinations are still "alive" and you'll be able to guess which combinations your opponent is holding. Pay attention to sequences when considering what cards to draw or discard. For example, it is easy to miss an ace-low sequence (A-2-3 or A-2-3-4), because the ace is always sorted as a high card in your hand. Later in the game, intimidate your opponent—keep a vigilant eye on your opponent's score, and try to keep your score slightly ahead to keep him or her from ending the game. Also watch your opponent's hand size at the end of the game: you don't want to be surprised by the other player going out when you have a full hand of cards (especially high ones) near the end. Know when to lose gracefully. If you're dramatically behind on points in the current hand, but you can go out, consider going out early even if this means losing; since you're playing several games to 500 points, think long term. Prolonging the hand when you're losing and your outlook is bad gives your opponent a chance to make the outcome even worse for you. Your ace strategy should vary throughout the game. Early in the game, it is worth holding onto aces, since the potential 15 points you could score (for a set or ace-high sequence) are very valuable. Near the end of the hand, discard aces that are not sure things. At 15 points a pop, it is too much of a risk to hold onto them near the end of the hand. If your opponent's score is nearing 500, try to end the hand at an appropriate time, if you can. Don't be afraid to go out early if you don't have a fantastic hand and your opponent won't win the game. Maybe the next hand will be the monster hand you need to mount your comeback.

Strategies for Melding In most cases, don't meld cards such that you are left with only one card in your hand. This leaves you in a weak position because you can't make your own melds and must wait for a good draw or for your opponent to play a meld you can play on. You might consider this tactic if you have a strong lead over your opponent and want to go out early, because you'll probably have time to slough one card on an existing meld. If there are few melds on the table, though, avoid this strategy! Don't meld sets of less than four cards, or any sequences, too early in the game, unless your opponent has taken a strong lead. Playing an unfinished meld gives your opponent potential points, while alerting him or her to cards you might want that they might otherwise discard. Sequences, in particular, can give your opponent points by letting him or her play two or more consecutive cards in their hand onto your sequence. If you have cards that can be melded into either a set or a sequence, consider the point values of the cards before deciding what to meld. For example, if you're choosing between 3 4 5 and 3 3 3 (both of which use your 3 ), the 3-4-5 sequence is worth 12, and the 3-3-3 set is worth only 9, so you would normally choose the 3-4-5 sequence. But also consider what cards are left in your hand: in the example above, if you meld 3-4-5, you're left with two 3s in your hand. If the fourth 3 (3 ) has already been played to a meld, your remaining 3-3 cannot become a set, and you may have been better off playing your 3-3-3 set instead of the 3-4-5, since you may be able to use the remaining 4 and 5 in other sets or in a 4-5-6 sequence.

Strategies for Drawing Don't wait too long for a single card; be aware that if you're trying for a three-card set, your opponent may be doing the same! Feel free to change your strategy. If you've been holding an 8-8 for a while, and you draw a 7 that you could use in a potential 7-8 sequence, you could discard the other 8 and hold out for the sequence— you could always pick the other 8 back up from the discard pile later if you get another 8 to make a set. As in Poker, never try to "fill an inside straight" in Rummy. If, for example, you have a 4 and a 5, you can add to this with either of two cards, a 3 or a 6. If you have a 4 and a 6, however, you're only half as likely to run across a 5. If you're using the Optional Meld of Top Discard rule, you can draw the top discard even if you don't plan to meld it. But when using this option, it is still a good idea to draw from the discard pile only to complete or add to a set or sequence in your hand, not to form a combination (two cards that may become a set or sequence). A good strategic application of this option is to draw an early discard that completes a meld for you, but choose not to play it until later.

Strategies for Discarding Check the melds on the table carefully before discarding; it is sometimes easy to discard a card that you might be able to meld. When discarding unmatched cards, always discard lower valued cards (2s and 3s) first. Be careful not to discard a 2 that's part of an ace-low sequence you already have in your hand, these are easy to miss! If you pick up several cards from the discard pile, try to discard something recently discarded by your opponent. That way you know it's something he or she won't want. When choosing between comparable discards, look at what has been melded. Could one of your cards become part of a sequence down the line? If so, hang onto that card rather than a higher-valued card that is not as likely to be part of a set or sequence. If all the cards in your hand are pairs and you have to discard one, break up the least valuable pair; you can try to pick it up later if you complete the set by drawing the third card in the set. What's more, your opponent may then slough the card you need on to the discard pile, thinking you aren't interested in that card!

See Also How to Play Rummy 500 Rummy 500 Background Rummy 500 is an exciting American innovation of the classic card game Rummy. As in Rummy, players receive points for melds which are placed on the table instead of held in your hand as in the popular Gin Rummy variation. Aside from the 500 points required to win, the main twist of the game is the ability to draw from the discard pile, which makes the game more of a contest to score points than to finish. Other names for Rummy 500 are 500 Rum, 500 Rummy, and Pinochle Rummy (this last name is a bit of a misnomer; although melds are laid on the table as in Pinochle, there is no other resemblance to that game). Some also refer to this game as Michigan Rummy (which has different scoring rules), although the Michigan Rummy most Americans are familiar with is a fun variant of Poker, commercially available as Tripoley. The history of Rummy games is discussed fully in the Gin Rummy Background section. How to Play Spite & Malice Spite & Malice is a competitive two-player game that has some similarities to double solitaire. It is played with two standard 52-card packs. Cards rank from ace (the lowest) to queen (the highest), and kings are wild. Suits are ignored in this game.

Setup Five cards are dealt to each player to form their starting hands, and 20 cards are dealt face down to each player to form their payoff piles. The top card of each payoff pile (the payoff card) is turned up, and the player with the highest payoff card goes first. King is considered the highest card in this case. If the cards have the same value, the payoff piles are shuffled and redealt. The remaining cards form the draw pile for both players. Players have four side stacks in front of them that begin the game empty, and there are four center stacks on the left of the play area that also begin the game empty. Players move cards to these stacks while playing. Click here to learn about the stacks and piles in the game.

Summary of Gameplay The object of the game is to be the first player to play all of the cards in your payoff pile to the center stacks. You use the side stacks as a holding area for your discards. For advice on play and how to use the side stacks, see Spite & Malice Strategies and Tips. The game is played as described below: Play cards from your hand, payoff pile, or side stacks to the center stacks. This step is optional. You can play as many cards as you like. Center stacks can be started with aces, and then are built up in sequence (A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q), regardless of suit. Kings are wild, and can represent any card. When kings are played, they are changed to reflect the rank of card they represent, but with a "Wild" indicator on the card to show that it was a king. When you play a card from your side stack, the next card in that stack (if there is one) is revealed. At any time, you can click and hold down the Peek button above your side stack to see all the cards in that stack. (If there is no button underneath a stack, there is only one card in that stack.) If you play the top card of your payoff pile, the next card in the pile is turned up to replace it. Note: Kings played to side stacks remain wild; their rank is only determined when they are played to the center stacks. When a queen is played to a center stack, all the cards on that stack are removed and are shuffled back into the draw pile. If you play all five cards in your hand to the center stack on your turn, you're immediately dealt five new cards and your turn continues. To end your turn, play a card from your hand to one of your side stacks. This action is required and always ends your turn. The game ends when one player wins by playing the last card in his or her payoff pile to one of the center stacks. If the draw pile is depleted before this happens--a rare occurrence--and no players can play cards, the hand ends and the player with the fewest cards in his or her payoff pile wins the hand.

Playing the Game 1 On your turn, drag any cards you want to play from your hand, your payoff pile, or one of your side stacks to the center stacks. You can play as many cards as you like. Right-click a card to automatically play it to a valid center stack (this will only work if there is only one valid stack; otherwise, nothing will happen). To see what cards are in any of your side stacks, click and hold down the Peek button above the stack you want to see. 2 When you're finished playing cards, drag a card from your hand to one of your side stacks. This ends your turn and your hand is replenished to five cards. Play passes to your opponent. 3 The game ends when one player wins by playing his or her final payoff card to the center stacks, or when the draw pile is exhausted.

Note If the draw pile is depleted, but players can still play cards, the game continues, with the players playing cards to the center piles but not getting any new cards. Note that finishing one of the center stacks (by playing a queen to it) will reshuffle the cards in that stack back into a draw pile, allowing the game to continue and possibly end.

Game Options You can set the rules for the game, how the game is set up, and how the game is played. You can change all the options before the game begins. Once the game has begun, changing some options may require you to restart the game.

To set game rules and options: 1 Click the Spite & Malice Settings menu item on the Options menu. 2 Make the changes you want. 3 Click OK to save your changes.

Option Description Single Games Specifies that you play individual games, with no scoring. Match Play Specifies that multiple games be played. Games ares scored as described below, with the game ending when one player reaches or exceeds 25, 50, or 100 points. Each player scores five points for clearing their own payoff pile, and one point for each card remaining in their opponent's payoff pile. In a draw, the player with the fewest payoff cards scores the difference between the number of cards in their payoff pile and the number in their opponent's. Center Stacks Choose whether to have three or four center stacks. A standard game uses four stacks. In most cases, games with three stacks take longer, since it may take more time for players to play cards to the center stacks. Difficulty Level Sets the difficulty for the game to Easy, Normal, or Hard.

See Also Spite & Malice Strategies and Tips Spite & Malice Background Spite & Malice Strategies and Tips

General Strategies Keep your eyes on the prize! Always make playing the payoff card your top priority, and resist playing cards just because you can. Even if you have an opportunity to play a long sequence of cards from your hand or a side stack, always play the payoff card when you can and make all your moves with an eye to getting the payoff card played. No other moves really matter! Play a payoff card even if it means your opponent will be able to play his payoff card next turn (unless your opponent is about to play his last card). Watch your opponent's payoff card, and never help your opponent get closer to playing this card (by playing cards to the center that are close to the desired payoff card), unless you are trying for a nearby payoff card. For example, if your payoff card is a 10, and your opponent's payoff card is a 7, and a center pile contains a 3 on which you could play a 4 and 5, hold on to those cards and avoid playing them until you can "play past" your opponent (by playing at least 4-5-6-7). If the center stacks are not close to your opponent's payoff card, it's generally safe to play cards freely to the center piles, even if it doesn't help you. Getting cards out of your hand is often benefit enough. Which leads us to the next strategy tip… Try to clear your hand of cards when possible, as long as it doesn't help your opponent. Clearing your hand gives you five new cards, which may get you closer to your goal. Don't hesitate to be vicious—the name of the game says it all. If you get a chance to play the same card that's currently on top of your opponent's payoff pile, play it to the center stack to prevent him or her from playing it. Your opponent would do the same to you! It may be difficult to decide how to play a king from your payoff pile (assuming you have more than one center stack to play to). Be sure to use the king in a way that gives your opponent the least help getting to his or her payoff card. Otherwise, consider using it as a card that you don't have, since it may then help you play the payoff card you're about to reveal. Another particularly ruthless way to play the king is to use it with other cards to get to your opponent's payoff card, if you can. When playing towards your payoff card, if you have a choice of playing the same card from your hand or from your side stacks, play from your hand to get more cards dealt to you next turn, unless you really need to expose the cards underneath the card on your side stack. When holding on to cards for future use, try to keep cards as a run in your hand, ditching any card that's not part of a straight or near straight in your hand. This gives you the most versatility as these cards are always free to play. This is especially true for cards leading up to your payoff card and cards that immediately follow your payoff card. For example, if your payoff card is a 9, and your hand contains a 3, 6, 7, 8, J, hold the 6-7-8 in your hand as long as you can, and discard the other cards to the side stacks. If you can't hold the straight because you have to discard cards to the side stacks, try transferring the straight to a single side stack, one card at a time, so that it can later be played in order. When you have only one payoff card left, and your opponent has several cards left in his or her payoff stack, play to the center stacks more aggressively than you normally would in order to get more cards dealt to you. In other words, play as many cards as you can to the center stacks, unless it helps your opponent play his or her payoff card.

Playing Cards to the Side Stacks Playing cards to the side stacks correctly is critical in Spite & Malice; since you must play one card here at the end of each turn, it is important not to get yourself into trouble by burying important cards. Some guidelines for playing to the side stacks: All things being equal, play high cards to empty stacks. Queens and jacks are great plays to the side stacks. Your best, safest bet is to play matching cards to the side stacks; in other words, play a card that matches the card on the top of the stack (such as playing a 10 on top of another 10). This is an ideal play, since you're not hiding any cards. Try reserving some stacks for only high cards, such as queens, since you don't want to have to play those cards on top of lower cards. Fill all the side stacks with cards (preferably high ones) before putting unmatching cards on top of stacks containing cards. For example, don't place a 10 on top of a queen stack if you have an empty stack you can play it to. You might find it useful to play straights in your hand to a side stack so you can play them in order later. For example, you might play a 9-10-J in reverse order onto a stack. (You may be forced to cover these straights up, however, so try to keep them in your hand if you can.) Always play low cards on top of higher cards. For example, you could play a 9 onto a 10, or a 6 onto an 8, or a 3 on to a 7. Try never to play a higher card on a lower card as it may effectively bury that card. It's a good move to play a card matching your current payoff card to a side stack. You don't need these cards in your hand, since they don't help you get to your payoff card, and it doesn't give your opponent any free information. Do not cover a card in your side stacks that immediately precedes your payoff card. If your payoff card is 7 and you have a 6 in a side pile, don't play a 5 (or other card) on top of it! Do not play a card that is within three ranks below your current payoff card. You don't want to show your opponent that you are capable of bridging the gap to your payoff pile. Avoid putting kings on your side stacks unless absolutely necessary; this gives too much information to your opponent.

See Also How to Play Spite & Malice Spite & Malice Background Spite & Malice is a contemporary card game, one of a family of solitaire variants for more than one player, like Spit. However, unlike most "double solitaire" games, it is played in turns rather than simultaneously, and thus is more of a strategy game than a race to the finish. It is also often known as Cat and Mouse and commercially as Skip-Bo. The game is named Spite & Malice because in order to get ahead, you must deny your opponent chances to play his or her cards, even if it doesn't help you advance in the game. Spite & Malice is not for the kindhearted! Spite & Malice is most commonly played with two players (as in the Hoyle version), but can be played by multiple players, typically with one deck added to the game per additional player, and one more center stack than the number of players. Even numbers of players (4, 6, 8, and so on) usually play as teams, with separate hands but shared payoff piles. Payoff Pile Counter This is your hand These are the center stacks This is a payoff pile. The goal for each player in Spite & Malice is to empty their payoff pile. These are side stacks. Each turn ends by playing a card from your hand to a side stack. Cards can be played from the side stacks to the center stacks. This is the draw pile. Each player refills their hand from this pile, and center stacks that reach the rank of queen are shuffled into the draw pile. Use the Peek button to look at the cards in your side stacks. The Spite & Malice Layout

Click on the picture of the Spite & Malice game for information on that part of the layout.

Back to How to Play Spite & Malice How to Play Tuxedo

Tuxedo is a two-to-four player strategy game that uses a special 40-card deck. There are four suits each of A through 10, with the Ace having a value of 1. Play can happen in either quick-play mode, or as a multiple hand “tournament”.

The Object of the Game In the quick-play mode, the winner is the player with the most points at the end of a hand. In Tournament mode, the winner is the first player to reach 100 points in several hands of play.

Playing the Game The game play for both the quick-play and Tournament modes of Tuxedo are nearly identical, and differ only in determining a winner.  A hand begins with each player being dealt four cards face-down, and four cards being dealt to the center face-up.  The remaining cards are placed aside, to be dealt to the players when ALL players have run out of cards. At that time, four more cards are dealt face-down to each player. If four cards can’t be dealt to each player, than an equal number of cards are dealt, with the remaining cards dealt face-up in the center.  When it is your turn, you may be able to choose from up to three actions: Match, Build and Discard.  There are two ways to Match a card. If the player has a card of the same value (number) as one of the cards in the center, that player can claim the card as a match. If the player has a card with a value exactly equal to the sum of two or more cards in the middle, those cards may be claimed as a match. A player can take every combination of cards and any card which can be matched with the one card the player chooses to match with. All cards (the matched cards from the center and the chosen card from the player’s hand) are all removed from play, to be added to the player’s score. Only one card from a player’s hand can be used in a match, and if a match is made, no other plays can be done. Ex.: If a player holds a 10, and the in the center there is an Ace, 2, 3, 4, 10, and two 5s, the player can take all the cards since 5+5=10, 1+2+3+4=10, and 10=10.  A player may choose to Build on an existing card in the center. To Build, the player must have a card in-hand which, when added to the value of a card in the center, equals the value of another card in-hand. If the build card is still available on the NEXT turn, the player can then claim it as a regular match. Once a build is made, the player’s turn ends. Ex.: If a player holds an 8 and a 2, and there is a 6 in the middle, the player may Build the 2 on the 6 to create an 8.  The player can pick one card to Discard, if there are no other options. That one card is placed in the center, and the player’s turn ends.  If a player scores a “Take” (See scoring), the next player must discard one card face up in the center.  The hand ends when all cards have been dealt, and all player’s hands are empty. o In quick-play mode, there is only one hand to a game, and the winner will be determined at the end of that hand. o In Tournament mode, a new hand will be played until one of the players reaches 100 points.

Scoring Small Take: When three or fewer cards are in the center and all are taken during a play, the player gets 5 points for a Small Take. Big Take: When four or more cards are in the center and all are taken during a play, the player gets 10 points for a Big Take. Red Take: When a player takes a heart and a diamond from the center to create a match, the player gets 10 points for a Red Take. End of Deal: In Tournament mode, the player who has collected the most cards during a given hand is awarded 15 points for that hand. How to Play Space Race

Space Race is a two or four-player racing game. When there are four players, they play as two teams of two players each. Space Race uses a special 106 card deck, designed specifically for the game. The deck consists of Distance cards, Hazard cards, Remedy cards, and Safety cards.

The Object of the Game The object of Space Race is to be the first team (or individual in a two-player game) to reach 5000 points in several hands of play. Each hand is won when a team accumulates exactly 1000 Light Years.

Playing the Game  Play begins when six cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are set aside as the stock. Play continues clockwise until the hand is over.  Players take turns playing cards from their hands. Cards may be played offensively or defensively.  At the start of each player’s turn, that player first draws a card, bringing the total cards in their hand to seven. The player must then either play a card, or discard.  Distance cards advance the distance the team has traveled towards the finish line. They can only be played while the engines are online, and when there are no hazards stopping the team’s ship. If only the warp drive is offline, the only distance cards which can be played are 25 and 50.  Hazard cards are played offensively against the other team. They will not only stop the team until the hazard has been neutralized, but they will also shut the engines down.  Remedy cards are played defensively to counteract its corresponding hazard. For example, a Crew Mutiny hazard can be remedied with a Brig card.  Safety cards can be played either offensively or defensively, as the situation permits. In either case, the corresponding hazard card (if played) is removed from your ship, and can not be played against your team for the rest of the hand. An Engines Online card still has to be played to restart your engines, unless the Nacelles safety card is active. Also, after playing a safety, you may draw another card and play again.  A safety card may be played defensively, if an opponent plays a hazard card while you have the corresponding safety card. You may then play the card before you or your partner draws a card. This is called a Fire! When you play a safety card in this manner, you may immediately draw TWO cards and play again (any players between the player who played the hazard card and the player who played the safety card lose their turns). After this, play continues normally to the left of the player who played the safety card.  The hand will continue until one team accumulates exactly 1000 light years by playing distance cards, or until there are no more cards to draw.  The game will continue with new hands until one team is the first to reach 5000 or more points.

Scoring

 Each team scores as many points as Light Years traveled

 If a team completes 1000 Light Years, they are awarded 400 points

 If a team completes 1000 Light Years after all cards in the draw pile are gone, that team wins an extra 300 points for a “Nexus”

 Each safety card played is worth 100 points

 If a team plays all four safety cards in a hand, they win an extra 300 points

 Each time a safety is used as a Fire! earns an extra 300 points for that team

 If a team completes 1000 Light Years and no 200 Light Year distance cards were used by that team during that hand (Impulse Power only), that team gets an extra 300 points

 If a team completes 1000 Light Years and the opponents have 0, that team wins 500 points for a KM Shut Out

Cards Used in Space Race The Space Race deck has several different types of cards, which are used in different ways. The cards can be broken down generally into four categories: Distance, Hazards, Remedies, and Safeties.

Distance Cards

As the card which is used the most, the Distance card is also the most plentiful. This card type is played to move a team toward the finish line. It come in speeds of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200. Each deck has ten 25 cards, ten 50 cards, ten 75 cards, twelve 100 cards, and four 200 cards. Distance Hazard Cards

Space travel is difficult. Space travel without fuel is impossible. Play this card to stop the other team in its tracks. There is three of this card type in the deck.

Out of Dilithium Crystals

Anomalies may be scientifically interesting, but they can also hold ships in-place. Play this card and the other team will be stuck in time. There is three of this card type in the deck.

Time/Space Continuum Rift

As if it’s not bad enough that you have to deal with the dangers outside the ship, there is always the potential for a crew uprising. Play this card and there won’t be anyone left to pilot the other team’s shiny new space ship. There is three of this card type in the deck. Crew Mutiny

Playing this card will cause your opponents to travel slowly. In fact, they won’t be able to play distance cards greater than 50. There is four of this card type in the deck.

Warp Drive Malfunction

Playing this card will bring the other team’s engines to a full stop. They won’t be able to go anywhere until someone remembers how to start the spaceship… There is five of this card type in the deck.

Engines Shutdown Remedy Cards A one-time shot of fuel, the Dilitihium Crystal Remedy card will counteract one play of an Out of Dilitihium Crystal Hazard card. There is six of this card type in the deck.

Dilithium Crystals

If you don’t have time to study it, blow it up. The Photon Torpedo card can be used to escape the grasp of a Continuum Rift card. There is six of this card type in the deck.

Photon Torpedoes

You feed them, you clothe them, you give them a job, and yet they still revolt? A long stay in the ship’s brig will calm any Crew Mutiny. There is six of this card type in the deck.

Brig

When you absolutely have to be there FAST, there is not better tool than a warp drive. Bring it back online, and you just might win the race. There is six of this card type in the deck.

Warp Drive Restored

You can’t really go anywhere until the main engines are online. Play this card to start the engines at the start of the race, or to restart the engines after your opponent gave you a Hazard card gift. There is fourteen of this card type in the deck. Engines Online Safety Cards

Who needs to buy more crystals when they own a mine full of them? Play this card to prevent any Out of Dilithium Crystals hazard card from siphoning your tank. There is only of this card type in the deck. Dilithium Mines

With a map of the hazards of space, you can just fly around them, and save yourself the trouble in the first place! Play this card and Continuum Rift hazard cards won’t slow you down a bit. There is only of this card type in the deck.

Stellar Cartography A little management can go a long way. Bring in a good Ship Captain, and the threat of Crew Mutinies will be a thing of the past. There is only of this card type in the deck.

Captain

Tired of having to restart your engines or warp drives every few light years? Attach some new Nacelles to your ship, and you’re engines will keep purring. This card prevents both Warp Drive Malfunction and Engines Offline cards from being used against you. Nacelles There is only of this card type in the deck.